


Stupidity Rising

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [47]
Category: Avengers (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Cooperative Fiction, Gen, PTSD, Post-Apocalypse (Character), Recovery, Second generation heroes, Teenage Drama, X-men - Freeform, ex-Horsemen, joint effort, maximum effort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 64,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27411742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: The Horsemen are all on the mend and trying to get back to their lives - or what's left of them, in some cases. Naturally, their families are trying to help them achieve a new normal, and naturally, there has to be some kind of uprising that took the whole 'Horsemen' thing entirely the wrong way. This sector of the public didn't get the memo that the kids didn't want to kill humans and it's making the four ex-Horsemen's recovery that much harder.
Relationships: Black Widow/Hawkeye-Clint, Cyclops/Annie Hale (oc), Elin Howlett/Chance Summers, Kurt Wagner/Kate Bishop, Logan/K (OC), Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton, Nightcrawler/Hawkeye-Kate, Scott Summers/Annie Hale, Wolverine/K Skogheim(Oc)
Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [47]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/552748
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. This Is A Mistake

It had taken a long time, but things were starting to feel somewhere close to normal. It helped that the end of the year came with so many wonderful things that needed celebrating. Like Krissy and Sying's first anniversary… and the twentieth for both K and Logan and Kurt and Kate. And of course, Kurt had heard no arguments about the Howletts taking the time for celebrating, either, as he didn't ask permission before he dropped Logan and K off on the island where he would forever claim he was responsible for James being conceived.

But even without anniversaries and holidays and all the warm, fuzzy feelings that came with the end of the year, the fact of the matter was that _time_ was helping them, too. The further they got from everything that happened with Apocalypse, the easier it was to try and move on. Sying had fewer panic attacks. Leslie Ann was showing more of her smile and clever sense of humor. Amadi was back to helping her mother in the gardens and had begun to help new students learn their way around campus in Los Angeles. James even seemed to be trying to engage more with friends and family.

Not that there weren't still problems. The junior and senior squad were pretty busy simply trying to help the world recover from Apocalypse's time in power. Sying had stirred up wars that didn't need Apocalypse's influence to keep going. Amadi and Leslie Ann had changed the face of the land itself — though both of them were actively working to bring back crops and to recede floodwaters. James found himself unable to make a contribution, though, when the things that he'd done.… There was no taking it back when he'd simply killed people — both those that hadn't quite died off from Leslie Ann and Sying and those that he'd been ordered to exterminate. And that was a category of people that James still couldn't talk about.

But it all felt a little less desperate as time went on, and it wasn't like the team had ever _not_ been busy or caught up in dealing with some new problem or another.

For Gerry and Charlie, that meant that they didn't get to see each other too much — not with school keeping them both busy _and_ Gerry being on the team. So the holidays brought some much-needed relief.

Gerry had just come back from another run to deal with Superior Rising; the group was becoming a serious problem for the team, in large part because it was impossible to get rid of all of them. They were decentralized, not at all the same sort of structured group that the Church of Humanity or, worse, the Brotherhood had been. The flipside was that this usually meant that the team was dealing with idiotic teenagers who were in over their heads when it came to actually facing the X-Men — though this time, it looked like they'd managed to find a few Superior Rising followers who actually did know what they were doing.

Charlie frowned as she slipped down to the med lab, where Hank was cleaning up a few of the members of the team. Of course Chance had a good collection of bruises — Charlie hated when he would go out with the team for these runs because the group hated him so much — but it looked like the rest of the team hadn't escaped harm, either.

Superior Rising claimed to love the X-Men, but they also claimed that the X-Men were slowly becoming irrelevant. Their ways were too old. They weren't keeping up with the times. They were too _tolerant_. And some of the more radical among them weren't above fighting the X-Men lately — because the X-Men were opposed to mutants killing or even harming humans.

Charlie was frowning to herself at the frustration she could feel from the group as she sat down next to Gerry, watching him help Hank with some basic first aid for his team.

"What happened?" she asked.

Gerry let out a breath and tipped his head toward Elin, who was cleaning herself up. She still had blood on her, though she was long since healed. "They were celebrating Death — the Horseman, not the — well, you get the picture," he said.

Charlie looked over toward Elin as she moved on to fussing over some of Chance's bruises and his black eye and suddenly understood the anger that was coming off of the young woman in waves. "That… that's bad," she said.

Gerry nodded, settling into a glare that looked unfamiliar on his face. "They think Apocalypse had the right idea. They want to kill off what's left of humanity — let mutantkind inherit the earth, like he wanted — and they're trying to use James as their example or whatever."

"I want James back on the team," Elin said. "Let _him_ straighten them out."

"No arguments here," Chance said, wincing back when she hit a tender spot.

Elin paused at his flinching and then leaned forward to give him a kiss. "I'll try to be more gentle. I just … wanna hit someone. Not you, obviously."

Chance couldn't help but grin at her. "Obviously," he agreed, then kissed her back. "I'm right there with you, though."

"You better be," she said with a little growl, knowing full well that would only get a wider smile.

And sure enough, he pulled her closer for a more involved kiss. "You know me," he said in almost a whisper. "If it makes you happy…"

"Oh my gosh, they never stop," Chloe complained to Kaleb, who just smirked at her and shrugged.

"Well, you were pushing to see them together as much as everyone else," Kaleb reasoned. "You got what you wished for."

"Oh sure," she said, shaking her head, though she looked Elin's way and smiled. "Besides, we need the full team back. Krissy's down for a while, and Sying's ... we need him back too."

"He's still basking in the new dad glow," Gerry chuckled.

"I'll talk to James when I get upstairs," Elin promised. "If he's still being _him_ … I'll just … I don't know … I'll figure it out."

"Start him small," Chance suggested. "Public outreach missions first. I bet _Alyssa_ wouldn't say no to an interview."

The grin he was wearing was borderline obscene, and Elin wasn't sure if she wanted to roll her eyes or poke at one of his sore spots. Instead, she simply lifted one eyebrow in warning. "I'm sure she wouldn't," Elin said in an almost flat tone

Charlie picked up on Elin's emotions and couldn't help but chuckle to herself as Gerry finally finished helping with the patch-up job and she caught him around the waist to pull him over so she could rest her chin on his shoulder.

"Are you two going to be okay if we head upstairs?" Elin asked innocently Charlie's way, batting her eyelashes. "Should I turn out the lights on my way up?"

Charlie shook her head at Elin. "Like we need your help with _lights_ ," she said.

"Stealing my lines now," Gerry said to her under his breath, which just had her laughing as she kissed his cheek.

"Must be love," Elin said.

"Must be," Charlie agreed with a little smirk.

"The Summerses, they are all alike," Kaleb said under his breath and shaking his head lightly.

Chloe reached over to shove him in the shoulder. "Oh, really? So what's that supposed to mean?"

He smiled impishly and leaned toward her. "Only that you are slow in admitting how you feel." He shrugged. "It's not your fault. It's simply a genetic quirk."

Chloe rolled her eyes at him and batted him away. "Like you and your declarations of affection for every single girl that comes your way?"

"They all have their charms," Kaleb countered with a grin. "Some, however, are far more charming than others."

"Don't you try and sweet-talk me," she warned, one finger leveled his way.

"Oh, I'm well aware of how hard it could be to sweet-talk you," Kaleb said with his tail swaying. "I'd be much better off should I work by actions. Let you win a race, perhaps?"

Chloe shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. "You have instant travel, Kaleb. That's not a good measuring stick," she said. "And I'm not that easy to win over, anyway."

"Yes," Kaleb said nodding seriously. "The only way I'd ever beat you, pretty little Summers, would be to teleport. Obviously."

Chloe flushed pink. "You — that's — clearly not what I was saying."

"It's alright; I understand. My ego can accept that," Kaleb said before he stole a kiss and teleported away.

Chloe was still standing there and sputtering, but Charlie knew that she was flattered and had a bit of a crush anyway, so she wasn't going to say anything. Not that her big brother was going to do the same.

"Sneaky little… aggressor," Chance said.

"Like that's some kind of a shock," Elin laughed.

"Well, it's my sister, and he should remember that," Chance grumbled.

"Oh no! She's your _sister?_ " Elin gave him a mock look of alarm. "Please. She could wipe the floor with him if she wanted to."

"She really, really could," Gerry said with a smirk.

"And don't you forget it," Chloe grumbled under her breath, though she was still blushing hard and ended up ducking out of the room.

"Awww, we embarrassed her," Elin said before she offered Chance a hand up.

"She'll get over it," Chance said as he took her hand and then pulled her into a kiss. "So, are we going to get James together or do you want to do that yourself?"

"I think … he might _listen_ better if he thinks it's not just his sister telling him what to do, but I could totally just tell him what to do if you think that'll work."

"We'll try it the official team leader way first," he said with a smirk. "And if all else fails, big sister him."

She nodded and stole a more involved kiss before she led the way to find James curled up in the music room. He'd been hiding in there more and more often since he knew no one would be around it for long stretches of time. "We need to talk, little brother," Elin said as she walked through the door and then made her way over to drop into the seat next to him.

"About what?" James asked as Elin let him sit upright and Chance took the seat next to her.

"We were thinking it's time for you to come back to the team," Chance said. "You know, at least a few small non-missions to get warmed up — like an interview with Alyssa or something. No hitting needed."

"I don't know that I'm the right person to represent anyone," James said. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not right for the team, too."

"Shows what you know," Elin said. "Quit being like this and come back. I _miss_ you. And we need you."

"What she said," Chance said with a nod. "Besides, people are running with yours and Sying's images and acting like that's an excuse to kill humans."

"What are you talking about?" James asked, looking irritated already.

"It's a thing, man. People saying Apocalypse was right and are trying to finish the work of killing off anybody who's not a mutant." Chance gestured to his black eye. "Fun times."

"What's it gonna take?" James asked. "I haven't even been out of the house in months."

"Well, hey, might help if you were seen talking to a human blogger with your human brother-in-law," Chance pointed out. "Small step — subtle, but still a statement."

James let out his breath at that. "What sense is that going to make if I'm not on the team?"

"Kind of the point, genius," Elin said as she gave his arm a squeeze and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Come on. You got all your hair back. You're starting to actually fill out your clothes right. Your healing is starting to work better. I think. Don't be a baby."

"I'll have to talk to Scott," James said. "See what he says first."

"We'll talk to him," Chance said. "We have to talk to him about how the Superior Rising thing went anyway."

"All the same, I'd rather that conversation be private — as in just me and him," James said.

"I wasn't trying to steamroll you out of it," Chance said, shaking his head. "I just meant _we_ — you know, three of us? — could go."

James frowned at that, but finally nodded. "I just .. didn't think I needed to hear any of that when he tells me 'not yet'."

Chance glanced at Elin and then shook his head. "Uh-huh," he said, then tipped his head to the side. "C'mon. Let's go ahead and talk to him. We can set up an interview after the Christmas rush of heroes floods the place." He smirked. "Or during — if you want an excuse to get out of the house during the mobbing."

"If I want out, I'll just get out," James said.

"Geez, try to give a guy some options," Chance said, threading his arm through Elin's as they walked together.

James covered his face with both hands and let out a groan as he got to his feet to follow them. "Right. So far, my options are 'join the team again' or 'join the team again. Because I said so'."

"Pretty much," Chance said with a smirk over his shoulder.

"You know Tony's been asking again, and I considered going with him this time," James said.

"Just 'cause you want to give Howard a heart attack…"

"I can do that any time," James argued.

Chance's smirk just widened at that as they hit Scott's office — and Scott raised an eyebrow as all three of them came in.

"We had a few things to talk about, and James is part of the second half," Elin said. "Debrief first, for … reasons."

Scott looked between the three of them and then nodded, though he couldn't quite stow the smirk. "Alright. How did it go?" he asked.

"They're attacking humans, and now, they've got a few factions that are worshipping 'Death' here, and 'War'," Elin said. "They're also attacking us, because we're _so passe_."

"So they're taking the same tack the Brotherhood did."

"They think they're the New Brotherhood," Chance said. "And now, with the whole Apocalypse thing, they're saying he had the right idea — kill off the humans."

Scott looked extremely unamused as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "And that's only going to fuel the anti-mutant fervor on the other side of things."

"It's pure tribalism," Chance agreed, shaking his head. "If it's not Superior Rising, it's the Church of Humanity."

"And anyone in the middle is getting pounded on both sides," Scott said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Chance said, leaning back. "Don't worry — we're on it."

"So," Elin said, turning to look at her brother. "I wanted you to sit down with my brother here and tell him exactly how ready he is to come back — and to what capacity. Of course, letting them hit him might remedy their issues for oh … six to eight weeks."

"Oh, _wow_ ," James said, turning to Elin with a look of disbelief. "That's just … worded so one-way."

She smirked but didn't look the least bit apologetic. "Fine. If _he's going to be shy_ , maybe we can just … pull him into practices again and he can start with public outreach instead of field work? Something light," Elin said. "Show that the ones they're trying to use as examples don't buy the crap they're spewing."

Scott nodded slowly. "I think it's time," he agreed. "Talk to Sying, too. I want to see the full team practicing together so we can see if there are any issues that need to be ironed out in the Danger Room." He looked toward James for a moment before he turned back to Elin. "You wouldn't be coming to me on outreach if you didn't have an idea, so what are you thinking?"

"Start easy with our little web blogger friend. Light. No pressure. No surprises. She'll let us know what we'd be talking about before we sit down, of course."

Scott nodded. "If you're going to do that, I want you to do the same thing as before — have Kurt and Kaleb close by to get you out if something goes wrong, especially with these fringe groups gaining steam."

By that time, James was just looking at his hands and listening to them go back and forth, though he was pretty sure they were wrong to pull him in on this one. But, he knew when it was a waste of time to offer something like an opinion.

"Great. So, we'll set it up for a few days before Christmas," Chance said, then smirked Elin's way. "Nice message of hope and unity in time for the holidays."

"Sound good to you?" Elin asked Scott.

Scott nodded, unable to stop the smirk watching the two of them working in such good rhythm together. "I think it's a good idea. Nobody wants to have to deal with stupidity over the holidays."

"I'll text her then," Elin said before she got up and headed for the door. "Thanks!"

"Elin, make sure you talk to Sying too," Scott said. "I'll talk to Leslie Ann. You're right. It's time to get back in the game and get our teammates back in the field."

"I'll get him going to practice at least," she promised. "I won't push if he wants to wait for the end of the year, though — seeing how wrapped up he is right now. He might need time to get his head in the game while his attention is split, and honestly, that's probably best for _him_."

Scott couldn't help but smile at that. "That's entirely true," he agreed.

James didn't say a word as he got up, ready to head out, since clearly, the discussion was over. And oh, so quickly. He didn't bother looking back at the others as he headed down the hall. And, if he was being honest, he was a little bit tweaked over what felt an awful lot like a railroading to him. But all there was for him to do at that point was to head down to the Danger Room, lock the doors, and break stuff. And maybe run a sim or two that might be useful.

He had broken a few robots — to the point that he knew he'd just have to fix them later — before he finally started the first real sim. He hadn't fought these Superior Rising idiots before, but if they were going to possibly be facing them soon, he figured he'd try it out and see what their problem was.

But once he heard half of the stuff those idiots were spewing ... well. He failed that particular sim fairly spectacularly. He cleared the entire program, but he hadn't left one idiot in a Superior Rising outfit breathing. "That _might_ need a little polish," he muttered to himself, not at all surprised at how it had gone, but not exactly sure how he got started on it. "Or not."

He was low-key growling to himself as the room reset. It wasn't that he was worried about the crowd — he had his healing more or less back up to speed, and with the bracelets finally gone, too, he had his defenses working just _fine._ It was more the fact that it was a lot _easier_ for him to just kill the creeps than to wound them creatively. And when they were saying the things they were, he couldn't even feel sorry about killing them.

James rolled his shoulders, his eyes closed as the sim started to get fired up again. He waited until after he could feel the crowd around him jostling and shouting utter _nonsense_ before he bothered to open his eyes and take in the scene. The easy slip in wasn't even enough to make it more tolerable, either.

He made it further that time, simply pushing back the guys that were shouting in his face and calling him all kinds of trash. He knocked a few out when they shoved him a little harder than he was willing to put up with — all while the growl was steadily growing. But when he heard a commotion up ahead and barely covering the sound of fists on flesh, he was right on the edge. He forced his way up to the knot of people without too much trouble.

He could see fists flying, elbows nearly missing people as they pushed into the center, and when he finally pushed his way into the knot, he very nearly snapped right on the spot. He held himself back for just a second or two, but he didn't try to stop himself before he let the claws fly and tore into the whole group — slashing throats and worse as fast as they could get in front of him.

He cleared the sim out in short order, though by the time he'd gotten up to the center of the knot, Chance, who was being beaten on, was in serious trouble. The sim faded, and he fought back the urge to restart it with the intention of just … shredding from the very start. Because that was how _he_ wanted to handle them. Screw restraint. Screw the badge. Screw subtlety.

But when he felt the trickle of blood fall off of his fingertips, at least that much drew his attention. James looked down at his hands and shook his head. The wounds were healed from using his claws, but the blood remained, of course.

He looked up to the empty booth and knew he still had about ten seconds before the auto record turned off, so he let his thoughts be known — since he knew someone would check it later. " _This is a mistake_."

* * *

When Scott had seen the recording of the sim that James ran, he had taken a long time to think it over. He honestly hadn't considered it, but he should have — it was clear that James had spent so long killing people that when he let his instincts take over, he couldn't stop it. The muscle memory, the ease with which he could kill now — it wasn't like Scott hadn't seen that before.

He'd make sure that Elin and Chance knew to watch for it in practices — and he wouldn't sign off on sending James on any missions until it was addressed.

But it wasn't like this was a new problem, either. That was why he'd asked Logan and K to meet him in his office so he could show them the recording. When they arrived, he simply let it play through, knowing by the looks on their faces that they were thinking the same thing he was — that this was going to take some serious work.

But even with that being said, he couldn't help but say, "I mean, you had to talk me down from blasting them when they took Chance that first time, so I can't say I blame him."

"And his form is beautiful," K said in an almost entirely serious tone.

"I'll talk to him," Logan promised before he tipped his head to the screen. "He's not upset or mad with himself. Least, it looks like he's mad at the situation."

"Which is something we can work with," Scott said.

"Unless he doesn't see the reason not to kill them," K argued.

"He's a smart kid," Scott argued. "He knows that if we start doing that, it's going to give more ammunition to the extremists on both sides — and add fuel to the fire of people saying the Horsemen should lead the end of humanity."

"And if that's the route he takes — killing those idiots — the ones like that would be the first to go," Logan said, shaking his head. "But that's why he said it was a mistake, I'm sure. He knows he's not ready."

"I'm not sending him out in the field for anything beyond some public outreach Chance and Elin want to do," Scott assured him. "That's why I brought this to you."

"So, you're finally admitting that you want to work off of the pretty face," K said with a smirk.

Scott gave her a dry look. "Yeah, Chance will be at the interview."

"Be that as it may, our girl is there. No one will be looking at him," she replied with a wave.

"I _will_ handle this with James, but I'm not makin' any promises about him being ready to go out in public," Logan said again, ignoring the back and forth entirely. "If he's got the wrong mindset, you'll have to just let it go until he gets further along. _If_ he can get past it. You know how much that changes you."

Scott nodded. "I know he can get past it. He's no Magneto," he said. "And we've all been to that point before. You two more than once. _I_ was even there before. It's just a matter of someone pulling you back." He shook his head as he leaned back. "I'm hoping that's you."

"We'll find out," Logan said before he got to his feet and offered K a hand up. "When's your little interview? I'd feel better if he had his head halfway square by then in case something goes south."

"A few days before Christmas," Scott said. "I think it's a good idea to get it out there before the holidays; we don't want some group calling for a _cleansing_ for the new year, and you know they will."

"So no pressure then," Logan deadpanned.

"This isn't an unknown. He has a good relationship with this girl," Scott said. "I'm sending Kurt and Kaleb to get them out in an instant if they see anything they don't like."

"All the same, I had that detail picked out because I wasn't available. I am this time. If he slips, I don't want Kurt or Kaleb getting stabbed."

"If you want to go, you can, but on the flipside, I don't want him to think he needs to be babysat," Scott said. "Kurt has dealt with you on your worst days; he can handle James."

"Better make sure of that first," Logan pointed out. "Kurt ain't quite as spry as he was handling me on my worst days."

"I'll let him know he needs to run some sims with James," Scott said. "And honestly, we should get the junior squad learning that as well. Kaleb, Chloe - they need to know this kind of thing too. Gerry could probably help, but James wouldn't appreciate the pheromones."

"That … may or may not be true," K put in. "The pheromones worked pretty seamlessly on Logan, but they irk me. I don't know how James would handle it."

"We'll try it in a controlled environment first."

"Then I guess I'll get Akihiro in," Logan said with a smirk. "James wanted a chance to spar with him anyhow. And if we need to get James ticked off for the reaction … no better source than his big brother."

"I still want to try it with Gerry on the opposite end of the scale," Scott said. "I don't want him madder; I want him calmer, and Gerry has always been good at that."

"Sure," Logan said. "But if he gets a bad reaction to the pheromones at all, it'd be better if Akihiro was the pincushion."

"No arguments there," Scott said. "I'd want James to know that this was a last-ditch fix, if he needed to calm down and _can't_."

"Will do," Logan agreed, again on his way out. "Anything else on your mind, Slim? You know - before I go tell my boy that you agree with him as is."

Scott let out a breath of a laugh. "No, that's it." He paused. "Well. I'm going to talk to Leslie Ann when they come down for Christmas. I don't want her to do what she's done in the past and run away from the team. If we're pushing the boys to get back on, she should do the same."

"Good luck," K said, then added, "If you think it'll help, I'll join you."

"Actually, I was going to ask Logan to join me," Scott said, looking Logan's way. "She went to you when she wanted to quit. She went to you when the Leslie Initiative was at its height. You have a solid shot at getting her to listen to you."

"Set it up, but I'll talk to my boy first," Logan said.

"Thanks," Scott said. He smirked. "Annie would love to have her niece back, so if she agrees to rejoin the team, expect to get hit with a hug."

"What else is new?" Logan deadpanned before he left to go find James.

* * *

Of course, the talk with James … was a rough one. More so than Logan had anticipated. But once James actually told him what he was thinking — and about how he wasn't sure it was worth the energy _not_ to kill the idiots that were trying to preach genocide — he at least knew where he needed to start.

"We're going back to the samurai training," Logan told him. "Don't make any big plans outside of what we did before. Running, martial arts, meditation, all of the reading — the works."

James let out a sigh of relief to at least _finally_ have something that he could latch onto and rely on, and the two of them set up to start first thing in the morning. Which meant that Logan would be free by afternoon to do whatever it was that Scott needed with Leslie Ann.


	2. Don't Touch Death

Elin and Chance had set up their meeting with Alyssa at the cafe where they could usually find the excitable little vlogger, and true to form, she was practically bouncing in place with excitement over the chance to interview the three of them.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked as she got everything set up. "It's been kind of crazy lately with all the… everything."

"All the hate groups, you mean," Chance supplied for her, and she nodded, looking frustrated.

"It's just ridiculous," she said, shaking her head to herself before she finally finished her final touches on the video setup and then looked between the three of them with a spark in her eyes. "Okay, so — do you want to start out slow on this one or jump straight in and end with the softer stuff like how the team's doing?" she asked, specifically looking James' way as she watched him carefully. "I mean, hate crimes… death worshipping, it's heavy to jump into if you don't want to warm up."

"How would you warm up?" James couldn't help but ask. "Not exactly light reading material."

"Well," Alyssa said, squaring her shoulders. "We could start with the light people interests and ease into it. I definitely want to talk about how the team is doing. I know Sying and Krissy have a little one because the gossip columns have already run with it. Her being heir to the Bishop family fortune kind of blew any type of cover she might have thought she had." She shrugged. "Then, if you're all comfortable, we can work up to talking about you three as a family…" She looked at Chance almost apologetically. "I mean, you are a mixed-sub-species family. And if we're slick about it, that can lead into the hate crimes." She smiled James' way. "I _have_ been doing this for a while."

"I was genuinely curious, not questioning your talent. Sounds like you know how best to handle it," James said with a little shrug as he leaned back. He frowned to himself and pulled out his phone to start texting Krissy, not that he was letting the others at the table know it.

Alyssa looked at the other two, and when they didn't seem to have any argument, she nodded to herself and then started up the recording. "So ... tell us about life at the institute. There's a brand new little one in the team, the first _junior-junior_ X-Man, right?"

Chance nodded with an easy smile. "Yeah, her name's Ariel. Tiny ball of fluff," he said. He grinned Elin's way for a moment. "Right now, her favorite thing to do is try to pull Elin's hair out — which she can if Elin doesn't pay attention. Alien genes."

"That must make things fun around the house, right?" Alyssa said with a grin. "How's the rest of the team with a baby in the squad family?"

"When Sying comes down from the clouds, I'll let you know," Chance said with a smirk.

"We're used to babies around the place," Elin said. "Everyone's happy to help."

"So, it's like one big family out there?" Alyssa asked her with an encouraging sort of smile.

"That's the whole point of our group," she replied. "It's always been one big family."

"It's a pretty diverse group, too," Alyssa said. "I mean, you've got a little bit of everything over there, people from all walks of life and various power sets … does it ever get too hectic?"

"I guess it probably has to do with how we were raised," Elin said. "It might be hectic, but it's what we're used to."

"You all grew up together, right?" Alyssa asked.

Chance nodded. "Even the kids that grew up with family in LA or Chicago - we're all close. You sort of have to be. There's not many people who can relate to growing up with an X-Man for a parent."

"And most of us have tried out one of the other schools at one point or another," Elin added. "I went to LA for a while, and James spent some time in Chicago."

Alyssa nodded. "So, if I can try and draw my own conclusion here… the team is tight-knit, but it's not an exclusive kind of group. You've got all kinds, right?"

"That's the idea, yes," Elin said. "To get in, you have to pass the tests — all of them."

"You have to be really dedicated to it," Chance said. "There are teams in the other schools, but the one here is grueling." He shrugged. "It has to be to keep up, really."

"Yeah, you've been pretty busy lately," Alyssa agreed. She took a deep breath as she looked over the group of them. "We've seen a lot of the news reports coming in. Groups like the Friends of Humanity — the X-Men have been fighting them for a long time. But these new guys, Superior Rising, how are you dealing with them? I mean, it's a big enough group that not all of them are as radical as the ones we see you fighting on the news."

"We're trying to just dispel the rumors and the garbage they're spewing more than anything else," Elin said. "They're not doing anyone any favors by spreading lies and misinformation."

Chance nodded. "We'll fight the ones that take it too far, but even the ones that are 'just' saying one group is better than another — that's damaging." He glanced to Elin for a moment before he tipped his head slightly. "We've seen what mob mentality does when people are screaming hate speech."

James watched the two of them answer Alyssa's questions, his chin in his hand, feeling relatively out of the circle — and safely so, since he was sitting next to Alyssa, and thus, off camera. He thought they were handling it beautifully, and he was sure he didn't have anything worthwhile to add. Even if his sister was giving him a look between and even during a few questions in an effort to get him to join in the conversation.

Elin had just finished giving a brilliant answer about how the X-Men weren't going to tolerate the hate on _either_ side when they were interrupted entirely by a young man in a purple shirt, sporting a fresh-looking swirling S-R tattoo that gave away his Superior Rising allegiance as he positively _grinned_ at James as if he'd just won the lottery.

"Hey, man. How many _homo_ _inferiors_ did you wipe out today?" he asked, as casually as if this was a normal question as he put his hand on James' shoulder.

Elin knew what was coming, though the other two didn't. In an instant, James had not only gotten the guy's hand off of him and _broken it_ but he'd gotten out of the booth and twisted the creep into a pretzel with his busted hand twisted up high between his shoulder blades. "What did you just say to me?" James growled out as menacingly as he could. "Because if it was what I _think_ it was, _I'm gonna start by breaking your goddamn arm_."

The guy was whimpering as he shook his head, clearly realizing that he was in trouble.

"You think it's fun to hurt people that haven't done anything wrong?" James growled out low. "Or to terrorize people that are different than you?"

"That's what they've done to us," the guy argued.

James tweaked his arm a little further, getting a much louder protest from him in the otherwise silent cafe. The whole building had their attention on the two of them, though James was fully focused on the Superior Rising creep. "Has _anyone_ ever done anything to you personally? Or is this just the same crap that everyone's been dragging around? Careful with your answer now. _I'll know if you lie_." The last part was quiet enough that only Elin heard it at the table, and she swore under her breath, knowing that if he did answer wrong, he likely wasn't long for this world … and it was in full view of everyone in the cafe. Maybe this _was_ a mistake.

The guy was shaken as he simply shook his head, deciding that silence was the best option considering how much trouble he was in.

"No one has ever hurt you, but you think you have the right to do horrible things to others? Are you out of your freakin' mind?" James was clearly livid. "Whoever told you I advocated the _trash_ you idiots spew _lied_ to you. Talk to me again like that — or let me catch you screwing with _anyone_ just because they disagree with you or don't have an x-gene — and I _promise you_ you'll regret every decision you've ever made in your miserable, self-centered little life. _Got it_ , _man_?"

The young man nodded, whimpering as James tried to rein in his temper and hold back on the impulse to break his neck right there on the spot. James finally got up and let the guy go, though he kept the low growl rolling, and he had his glare locked onto the guy, waiting for him — _hoping_ he'd try something stupid so he could lay him out cold at the very least. He _really_ wanted to educate this guy as to what an adamantium-laced punch could do. Or more.

But the guy was at least smart enough to know when he was outclassed, and he quickly left the cafe before he could get into any more trouble than he was already in.

James let out a little sigh as he sat down, looking none too pleased with himself. "We should probably wrap this up before the cops show up."

Alyssa stared at him for a long moment before she nodded, though she didn't get to ask any questions before there was a smattering of applause from the people around them.

James had his chin tipped almost to his chest, feeling honestly ashamed of his gut reaction, but at the applause, he looked up at Elin across the table with raised eyebrows, looking perfectly bewildered. "What the hell …"

But Alyssa was the one to break into a grin and let him in on it. "Not everyone agrees with those idiots."

"Yeah, but …I didn't think… _what_? I was under the impression that everyone hates me?"

Alyssa shook her head at that and then gestured at the people around them. "Well, you're wrong." She cleared her throat before she turned James' way with her camera. "So… James, we've just seen what you think of people who spew hate. Do you have a message for them — or maybe for people who have been terrorized by them?"

James glanced up at Elin, who was doing her best not to grin at him, overly tickled at how well James spanking a Superior Rising supporter had turned out. "If you don't like people judging you on how you were born, you damn well don't have a right to do the same to anyone else," James said evenly before he shrugged one shoulder. "Pretty sure that was covered in Kindergarten. Behave before someone makes you stop bein' a jackass."

Alyssa nodded behind the camera. "And to the people who have been victimized?" she prompted.

He shook his head at her, knowing she was eating it up. "You're _not_ alone. Whoever is out there mistreating you for whatever reason will have to answer for it. Don't let their idiocy change you." He gave Elin a look that read exactly how irritated he was with her for the set up. And he did blame her.

But Alyssa was completely oblivious to his glare — or at least, she was oblivious to the reasoning behind it as she did her wrap-up and Chance leaned over to James with a smirk to say under his breath, "Nice."

"Bite me," James said back just as quietly.

Chance smirked that much wider before Alyssa turned to James, still clearly thrilled with the way it had gone down. Before anyone realized what was coming, she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "That was beautiful!" she declared, as she began packing up her things. A beat later, it seemed to occur to her, incredibly belatedly, what she had done — and she froze and turned bright red.

Chance was frozen in place wearing an expression of _sheer delight_ , and Elin was just staring openly at Alyssa. Especially since just minutes before, unexpected contact had resulted in broken bones and an obliterated ego.

To add to it, James simply wasn't used to _anyone_ initiating any kind of playful flirting, and he was just as stunned as Alyssa was, though not red in the least. He turned her way with an open expression and simply tipped his head. "I haven't gotten arrested yet, so … hope what was said works for you."

She stared at him for a moment and turned somehow redder before she nodded. "Uh-huh," was her very eloquent response as Elin wondered if Chance was going to explode into laughter at any moment. Every passing awkward interaction only seemed to delight him further, and she was pretty sure she'd never seen him this far into elation with such prime material before.

As Alyssa tried to compose herself, the cafe owner came over with the rest of their orders and a smile. "No charge," he told the group.

"Really?" Chance asked with his eyebrows raised, which at least broke him out of the spell he was under from watching Alyssa struggle with returning to a normal color.

The owner shook his head. "We get those jerks in here a lot. 'Bout time someone taught them a lesson," he explained, pausing to give James a once over that went with a tight smile. He left before any of them could argue it.

"Pretty sure no cops, little bro," Elin said, smirking. "No reason to run off, right?"

"Right," Alyssa said, still red-faced but starting to get it back together as she quickly dug into the side of fries in front of her.

Thankfully for Alyssa's pride, the rest of the meal was relatively uneventful, and she was even able to get a bit of editing done while they chatted. It was painfully obvious that Chance and Elin were amused by the whole thing by the time it was through.

Still, before they could leave, Alyssa reached out to put a hand on James's arm, dying to try to save a little face. He paused and turned her way, completely not sure what it was she wanted, all things considered.

"I — um — thanks," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"For… for all of it," she said, biting her lip with a shy smile. "For coming to do the interview and for sticking it to that jerk and just - all of it."

He gave her a crooked sort of smirk. "That's kind of what we do, right?"

"Yeah," she said. She took a deep breath and looked at him sideways before she let it out again. "So maybe… we could… maybe you could … do you want to go out with me?" she blurted out all at once and then looked mortified with herself.

He honestly hadn't seen it coming. "You want to go on a _date_?" He asked, though as he considered the offer, he honestly couldn't think of a reason not to that wouldn't fall into what he was trying to categorize as 'wrong' thinking. "Sure, okay."

She broke into an even brighter grin than before. "Great! Good. I … you're the one with the X-Men schedule. What — what would work for you?"

"Ah, how about you text me when you're free, and I'll compare it to what I have to do," he said as he scribbled down his new number.

"Great!" Alyssa beamed at him and then dashed over to give him a hug. "I'll see you then!" With that, still red-faced, she quickly grabbed up her things and ducked out the door with his number clutched tightly in one hand, leaving James sort of shaking his head to himself.

When he stood up, he looked over to the cafe owner and pulled out his wallet to drop whatever the original tab was for a tip, since the man refused to give them the bill, then headed to the front of the cafe, where Elin was waiting for Chance to bring the car around. She didn't say a word and instead kept a very straight face, glad that James hadn't shot Alyssa down right off the bat.

Of course, Chance was a totally different story. As soon as he came with the car, he was grinning madly at James through the open window. "I hope you don't expect _me_ to throw myself at you for the _dashing_ rescue, oh hero mine."

"Please don't," James said. "The internet would have fits."

Chance snorted at that and shook his head to himself as they headed back. "She's nice, though. No lie."

"I'm sorry … did … was I _supposed_ to get your permission?" James asked.

Chance smirked. "Nah, go ahead. I'm not gonna stand in the way of you having some fun."

Elin shoved Chance's shoulder. "Knock it off, sweetheart."

Chance smirked at her and shrugged up both shoulders. "Just saying."

James let out a sigh and covered his face with both hands. "What, exactly, are you saying now?"

"Just that it's nice to see you have a little fun, even if you clearly didn't see it coming," Chance chuckled.

"Can't really blame me for not seeing it," James grumbled.

Chance smirked wider at that but kept his commentary to himself all the way back to the institute.

Not that Chance _barley holding back_ kept the news from spreading at least as far as Kari — though that had been down to James mentioning it to her in passing as he helped her with her ongoing project for the Summers family that evening.

Kari's reaction was a lot more genuine pleasure than teasing like it had been with Chance, and she was quick to give him a solid hug. "That's great news," she said.

"Wow, it's like I've never _talked_ to a girl before," James deadpanned.

Kari rolled her eyes. "No, but you were head over heels for Vanessa," she said. "You have to admit, even one date is a good step forward."

James shrugged, not comfortable with the subject at hand. "We'll see, I guess."

She shook her head. "Even one date _is_ a step forward, James. Just accept that as fact and say 'you're right, Kari.' I know it burns," she teased.

For that, though, he just pulled her into a tighter hug. "Shut up, you pushy little Elf."

She grinned and nestled deeply into the hug. "You can't blame me for wanting you to be happy," she said quietly. "I can't help it."

"Can we talk about something else? Anything else?" James asked, though he hadn't let her go yet. "Everything that happened today and the only thing you get out of it is that I got asked out."

"Well, yes, but that's because, like I already told you, I want you to be happy."

"I'm kind of happy I didn't murder that idiot," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

She let out a breath of a laugh. "Yeah, don't do that," she agreed.

"Kinda wanted to," he sang softly.

"But you didn't," she said. She was still hugging him as she glanced up at him. "So there."

" _Really_ wanted to," he growled out. "If I'm being honest."

She bit her lip, smirked at him, and then stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Alright. But you didn't, and I'm glad. You get so down on yourself when you cross that line, even in training."

"That's because i'm not supposed to cross it," he said. "It's bad control."

She nodded. "Then you'd think the one going on a date with a reporter would get the news flash: that means you had excellent control tonight."

"Optimist," he said before he returned the cheek kiss.

"Always," she agreed, grinning up at him.


	3. Romance For The Holidays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter, but no worries. I won't slap the next one up before you get the chance to read it all. You'll appreciate it all being in once place. Really.

As Christmas rolled around, so did all kinds of visitors. It was the first holiday season since everything that had happened under Apocalypse, which meant that the Hales were out in force to be there for the Summers for their first Christmas without Cody — and it also meant that Peter Quill had come from space to bring his kids so that they wouldn't be facing Christmas without their mom with just the three of them.

Which meant that both of the Quill kids tackled Logan and K once they arrived and both Howletts _let_ them push them over.

"I missed you," Jayce told K with a smile when he'd gotten her on the ground and curled in for a bear hug — and Nina was sure to do the same to Logan, too.

"Missed you too, sweetheart," K said, curling around him in a snuggle. "Did you keep your dad out of trouble?"

"Oh, definitely not," Jayce said with a crooked grin.

"Attaboy," she had to laugh.

"Gamora showed Jayce how to use her swords," Nina told Logan. "He's going to be a Guardian when he grows up."

"He'll take the group up a little," Logan said, holding her tight as she nestled in.

She grinned and hummed her agreement just like Kitty used to do, then leaned forward in a whisper. "Do you think Celeste will be a Guardian with him?" she asked quietly enough that only Logan and K could hear it.

"If they keep carryin' on, I wouldn't be surprised," Logan replied in a soft rumble.

"They write every week. Sometimes _twice_ ," she whispered, grinning wider. "I think he _loves_ her."

Both Logan and K took an instant to share a glance and then look at Jayce before Logan leaned in to whisper back to her. "He takes after your dad, then."

"Uh-huh." She let him go and offered him a hand up as she stepped back. "We brought some cool things back from space too. Do you like my jacket?"

"Not bad," he said, though as he got to his feet, he was sure to pull her closer for another hug just to get her off balance.

"I got one too," Jayce said with a grin, holding his arms out. "They're Ravager jackets. Pretty cool, right? They let us have them because of our dad."

"Not as cool as ours," K told him before she ruffled his hair. "But I've seen a lot worse."

"Oh come on. I think they're _cool_ ," Jayce said. "Dad says I'm a natural, too."

"Well, you're allowed to think whatever you want," K told him before the kids switched places in their snuggles.

Quill grinned with his arms crossed as he watched the hug fest. "Told you I'd bring 'em home," he said. "Hey, guys."

"Yes, good," K said, waving him over. "Nice to see your smiling face."

He grinned her way and took the initiative to pull her into a hug. "How are things around here?" he asked.

"Oh, you know," K said. "I think … you three missed a lot."

"Well, it _has_ been a while," he said. "Celeste already told Jayce about the tiny ball of white fluff. Cute pictures, by the way."

She nodded her agreement, but before she could elaborate on all of the changes in their little group, Lily came tearing around the corner with Teddy shortly after her, though she stopped about five steps away from them when she saw Peter, nearly tripping forward with the momentum. "Come on, Lily, he's one of our favorites," K told her.

Quill raised both eyebrows but crouched down low. "Heya, Lil. My name's Peter," he said with a crooked smile.

She took a few cautious steps forward, eyes wide, before she glanced up at Logan, waited for a nod, then very shyly said. "Hi."

Quill glanced over at Logan and couldn't quite help his smirk before he held out his hand for her to shake if she wanted it, gesturing with his thumb on the other hand to his kids. "These two are mine," he said with that same crooked grin.

She turned and pointed to K, Logan, and Teddy. "They're mine. An' Billy too."

Nina grinned at that and pointed at K and Logan. "They're our grandparents," she said.

Lily seemed to relax at that. "She's my mama, and they're my dads." She was nodding her head as if it made perfect sense to anyone.

"You're pretty lucky," Quill said, raising an eyebrow K's way.

"Oooh, right. Celeste said there was a magic blonde," Jayce said, nodding seriously over K's shoulder. "She's cute, Grammy K."

"Of course she is," K said with a little scoff. "She's mine."

Nina smiled sweetly at Lily. "Do you want to play with us? We were going to play in the snow, since we haven't had any snow in space, and we missed it."

Lily looked between K, Logan, and Teddy. "Snow time?"

Teddy grinned at her. "We can build a snowman if you want," he told her. "Or you and me can kick their butts in a snowball fight."

"Yes," she said before she rushed toward Teddy with a tiny little growl. "Let's get 'em."

Teddy grinned even wider at that and tucked her under his arm, taking off at a run to get her changed into her coat, which prompted Jayce to start running through the walls to catch up and Nina to dash after, shouting at her brother for leaving her behind.

Quill couldn't stop himself as he grinned through the whole display. "Oh man. Trouble walking. Not even sorry."

"Why don't you grab your coat and we can have a beer," Logan said. "Fill you in on everything else where it's quiet."

Quill nodded at that. "And I'll fill you in on the kids," he said. "You'd be surprised what Nina and Rocket can come up with together."

"I doubt that somehow," Logan said, shaking his head.

"He's getting old enough he needs a pair of hands… and Nina took to working on tech like… well." He paused and then shook his head. "It's definitely genetic."

Logan tipped his head toward the garage. "C'mon. I got plenty out here, and you look like you could use it."

* * *

While all of her family members were doing the snuggling hugs and greetings and everything that came with the Hale side of the family getting together, Leslie Ann was perfecting the art of ignoring the fact that her dad was still bristling a bit over her decision to bring David along as her _boyfriend_ to the family festivities. She had explained to her parents that David didn't _have_ anywhere else to go and that she really did like him, so he needed to get used to the idea of David showing up these events.

That had just gotten her dad more grumbly about the whole thing. But also somehow less grumbly at the same time. It was weird, but Mary Beth had assured her that he'd done the same thing when she got married and that he'd been grumbly right up until the proposal and then it was all "welcome to the family, son," so maybe he just needed to know his girls were alright. It was just… how he worked, apparently.

But while David was simultaneously getting the stink eye treatment from Anton and the warm welcome from Douglas and Evelyn, Leslie Ann diverted her own attention when she noticed Amadi arriving with her parents — and rushed over to give the younger girl a hug.

"It's so good to see you," she said with a smile. "Thanks for the flowers; they're amazing!" she added, grinning up at Storm as well. "I'll have to show you the Asgardian one next time you're in Chicago."

"My mother knew it would do you some good to get something familiar," Amadi said before she gave her another, tighter squeeze. "I've missed you."

"Missed you too," Leslie Ann said. "It's not quite the same without another witch around."

Amadi had to laugh at that, nodding her head. "Yes, the others are all so boring in comparison." She was grinning broadly. "How are our fellow isolationists?"

"Well, I don't know if you've seen the tiny ball of cute that is Sying and Krissy's little girl lately, but she's sitting up and making faces," Leslie Ann said.

"Only in photos," Amadi said. "Sadly."

"Well, all you need to do is get within Sying's line of sight, and I guarantee he will show her off to you," Leslie Ann promised. She grinned up at Storm and Forge. "You too."

"That was my next stop — after I saw my oldest friends," Ororo said.

"My uncle's excited to see you," Leslie Ann said with a smirk. "And Forge? If you could maybe give David some support, he's sort of… surrounded by my family, and if you suggest something techy he'd love the excuse to escape."

"I'm sure we can figure something out," Forge said with an amused smirk before he and Ororo shared a kiss and headed in opposite directions, leaving the two girls together.

Leslie Ann gave her friend one more hug and then looked her over, almost holding her at arm's length as she did so. "How are you really?" she asked.

"I'm doing well," Amadi promised. "The dreams are mostly gone, and those that remain aren't so intense as they were before."

Leslie Ann nodded at that. "I had Rachel Summers helping me with some of the worst of it," she admitted. "It was nice, you know, to have the Phoenix on my side."

"I'm sure," Amadi said. "I had Remy to help with the anxiousness until that passed."

Leslie Ann smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm sure that was helpful. Even just seeing him alive… that must have helped when you came back."

"It really did," she admitted, letting her shoulders drop.

Leslie Ann tipped her head down to catch her friend's gaze. "Hey, let's do something more fun than talk about the Horsemen days. I know for a fact that there are some kids outside having a snowball fight, and with you on my team…"

"Of course; they have no chance," she agreed before the two of them headed toward the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, Charlie had been watching the goings on of all of the different groups of family and friends as they were reunited. It was a warm sort of feeling, mixed slightly with loss when someone would occasionally remember the people that couldn't be there that Christmas, but overall, she was honestly enjoying drinking in the spirit that the big family get-togethers always brought along with them.

She grinned even wider when the last of her family members showed up. As promised, Hope and Nate had come for Christmas, and the rush of love and warmth as everyone ran over to welcome them home was perfect.

"You're enjoying yourself," Gerry said as he came over to sit beside her, draping his arm around her shoulder with an easy smile.

"How could I not be?" she asked, gesturing toward the group that was still steadily gathering. Storm was holding Ariel, who was completely entranced with Storm's white hair. Annie had Hope trapped in a hug that Hope didn't seem to be trying too hard to get out of. David had somehow gotten lucky and was talking with Sying and Ael about different space tech. Nate and Chance were deep in conversation. Chelsea was delightedly trying to explain everything about Christmas to John with her limited toddler vocabulary. "They're all happy."

"Well, yeah," Gerry said, looking toward his own family. Jess and Natasha were both teasing Clint about his very, very white hair. Zoe was teasing Nikolas mercilessly by transforming into him and copying everything he did — even if they were really too old for that kind of thing. "It's Christmas. Everyone's, like, ten years old and happy at Christmas."

She leaned back and nodded her agreement. "Yeah, but it's still nice to see."

"That's what I love about you, Lottie. Always caught up in other people's happiness." He leaned over to kiss her. "Can't see the forest for the trees," he teased.

"It's totally selfish on my part," she laughed. "I mean, I'm definitely getting a mood boost from all of this."

He shook his head at that. "No, no," he said. "You'd be this way even without your powers on. You just like it when people are happy. Even when we were kids," he insisted and kissed her again.

She shook her head but couldn't help smiling at him. "I just wish it was like this all the time," she said. "Everyone together… enjoying themselves… it seems like we only get together for the big things, and the rest of the time, it's just barely staying ahead of certain death."

"Kinda feels that way, yeah," he had to agree. "But, you know, we've got a big enough family, there's plenty of reasons to get together. Birthdays, anniversaries, babies, weddings — we've got something big pretty much every year, it feels like."

"Okay, that's true," she had to admit.

"Like, this year, the big new thing was Lily and Ariel coming into the family," Gerry said. "Year before that, your brother and Krissy and Sying got married… there's always something happy around the corner."

"You're an adorable optimist," she said, leaning over to steal a kiss.

"I assure you, Miss Summers, all of my findings are scientific fact," Gerry said, though that really just had her laughing harder at him.

"I love you, Gerry," she said, leaning back against him with an easy smile.

"Love you too, Lottie," he said. "We should do something about that."

"We are doing something about that," she teased. "I'm dating you, aren't I?"

He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, you are," he said and snuck yet another kiss before he explained his thought process a little better. "We should get married."

She stared at him in honest surprise, shocked into silence as she blinked at him a few times. "What?"

"We should get married," he said again. "You and me."

She stared at him longer still before she broke into a laugh and leaned over to kiss him. "Okay," she said. "Yes, let's get married."

He grinned and pulled her into a much more involved kiss this time and then ran his hand through her hair to brush it back. "Alright. Yes. Good," he said, nodding a few times before he kissed her again.

She laughed at him. "So, when were you thinking?" she asked. "We'd want to have everyone here, obviously."

Gerry kept playing with her hair for a while longer as he thought about it before a slow smile spread over his face. "Well, everyone's here _now_ ," he said slowly.

She stared at him again. "What?"

"Well, I mean, even your time-traveling stepbrother and step-niece are here," he said. "Kind of a perfect storm, don't you think?"

She stared at him in delighted disbelief. "Do you even have a ring?"

"No, but I could probably find a temporary one or two if I looked around," he said.

"You ... you have to ask my dad first," Charlie said at last as a blush rose up high on her cheeks. "Or you're going to give him a heart attack again."

"Okay, fair point," he said, nodding seriously before he leaned over and stole another kiss. "Don't go anywhere," he said. "I'll be right back."

Charlie shook her head, laughing at him as he made his way over to where Scott was sitting with Ivy as she told him all about how her own school year had gone so far. When he saw Gerry, he smiled up at him, and Gerry made himself comfortable as he dropped into a seat next to Scott.

"Merry Christmas Eve," Gerry said brightly. "Can I ask you something important?"

Scott blinked at him in honest surprise before he nodded slowly. "Sure," he said, tipping his head to Ivy, who nodded and rushed off to go find her dad to play with him. "What's on your mind?"

"Well, I really want to marry Charlie, and I wanted to get your permission before I did," Gerry said, never dropping the huge grin.

Scott looked so taken aback that he honestly couldn't quite come up with a response at first. His eyebrows were high on his head, and he couldn't put words to his thoughts for several long seconds. "You — what?"

"I want to marry Charlie," he said again, still grinning. "She's amazing, and I love her, and I want to make it official."

"Right." Scott nodded once as he tried to get his thoughts in order before he straightened up a bit. "You're going to respect her and treat her well — and if you hurt her, there's no place you can hide, got that?"

"Uh, yeah, I got that when we started dating. Not gonna change it just because there's a ring involved. She's still Lottie," Gerry said easily.

Scott couldn't help but smirk and shake his head at Gerry before he finally let out a breath and nodded. "Alright."

"Great!" Gerry grinned and got to his feet. "Thanks!" He shot Scott one more huge smile before he was off again, leaving Scott feeling rather blindsided.

Gerry made his way back to where Charlie was sitting and leaned over the side of the couch to steal a kiss. "Your dad's fine with it," he said. "So, I say let's grab Kurt while everyone's still in one place, and we can do this thing out in the snow."

"Can't I at least change into a dress?" Charlie laughed, totally entertained by the decision-making process that Gerry had gone through— and not inclined to stop him in the least when he was so very excited and happy about the whole thing.

"Oh, alright. But I'll be talking to Kurt while you do that."

She smirked more crookedly, still caught up in the whirlwind that was Gerry Drew. "What do you want me to wear?"

"Something that won't have you freezing in the cold, Lottie. I'm not picky."

She laughed again and headed upstairs, though she paused and reversed course to find Elin and grab her by the arm. "Can I borrow you for a minute?" she asked.

"You can borrow me for twenty," she said. "Your brother is being relentless, so I'm all yours."

"Oh, who let him play with John and Chelsea?" Charlie giggled when she saw him on the floor with the two little ones.

"Who do you think?" she countered. "Kari and Krissy funnelled them over."

Charlie grinned wider and threaded her arm through Elin's with a giggle. "Well, I have something that will completely derail him, so… come with me. I need to borrow a dress."

"You know you can have anything I've got," Elin said.

"Yes, well, I need a white one, and I'd like you to help me get into it," Charlie said, unable to stop the little grin as they headed upstairs.

Elin raised an eyebrow at that but didn't press. "Whatever you need."

Charlie beamed at her as they headed up, and once they reached Elin and Chance's room, she grinned even wider when Elin went to the back of her closet to pull out her own wedding dress _to start_. "I'm a lot taller than you," Charlie said. "But Gerry didn't really give me much time, so I hope noone notices if it's a little short."

"You're doing it _now_?" Elin asked.

"Well, Gerry pointed out that we have a rare opportunity with Hope and Nate here," Charlie explained. "And no one is attacking us—" She knocked on wood. "—and everyone's in one place. So… yes. We're doing it now."

Elin nodded and let out a breath. "Okay. But if that's the case, you have to let me run downstairs to the greenhouse while you're doing your makeup."

"Deal," Charlie said. "And grab Chloe while you're at it, please."

"I will," Elin promised before she set to helping Charlie get dressed and helped her find the right sweep to her hair. "There's a white wool jacket in the closet if you want it. It would keep you warm and change the whole look a little. I'll be back with Chloe and a bouquet."

Charlie beamed at her and pulled her into a hug. "Best sister-in-law ever."

"I am your _only_ one," she said, shaking her head. "Hard to make a competition out of it."

Charlie waved her hand at that. "Details," she said dismissively, then pulled Elin another hug.

* * *

Downstairs, Gerry had managed to track Kurt down. He was curled up with Kate watching Kade play with Ariel — who was trying very hard to capture Kade's tail and giggling madly whenever he would yank it away again.

"Hey, can I ask a favor?" Gerry asked Kurt.

Kurt raised an eyebrow and turned his way. "Yes, of course."

"I want to marry Charlie," he told Kurt outright, earning a huge grin from Kurt. "Would you do the ceremony?"

"Of course," Kurt said without even hesitating.

"Great!" Gerry beamed at him. "We were thinking we'd do it in the garden in the snow, so if you give me a minute to change—"

Kurt's huge grin dropped as he blinked at Gerry for a moment. "Now?"

"Yeah, no time like the present, right?"

Kate started to laugh outright and even went so far as to try and hide it by burying her face in Kurt's shoulder, though he could hear her say, "That is the most Hawkeye thing I have ever heard," from where she was hiding in his shoulder.

With Kate laughing on his shoulder, Kurt couldn't help but smile, though he still felt that he had to ask Gerry, "Is there a reason for the rush?"

"Wha- _no_!" Gerry said quickly, his eyes wide as he held up both hands. "No, it's just… Lottie's whole family is here, even the time travelers. And we were talking about how it's so rare for everyone to be in one place and thought — hey. Everyone's _here_. That's kind of the perfect time for it, right?"

Kurt couldn't help but smile when he heard Gerry's reasoning. "I suppose that's true."

"Great!" He turned to Kate, who was still barely keeping a hold of herself. "Think you could help gather everyone up, Aunt Kate?"

"Oh yeah," she promised through her giggles.

He beamed at her, and the light in the room seemed to swell along ith his good mood. "Great. Then I'll grab Chance and borrow a suit."

* * *

When Elin returned with Chloe, she had a bag over her shoulder - and as the two sisters started on prepping, Elin locked the door to the room and dumped the contents of the bag on the bed. "There were some red roses in there," Elin told her as she got to work. "And … I managed to zip out to the treeline and cut some pine boughs. Little bit rustic, but … fitting for the day and the season, I hope."

Charlie beamed at her. "That's perfect."

Elin fiddled with the flowers until she had a reasonably pretty bouquet, complete with a little pinecone, then took a minute to wrap up one red rose with some sprigs of pine needles for Gerry. "Can't let him get away with nothing to wear," she said, then tossed some little red roses to Chloe. "For her hair, if you'd like."

Chloe grinned and set to putting the roses in Charlie's hair when Elin paused, clearly hearing something that the girls couldn't — the boys coming down the hall and talking together.

"Be quiet, please," she said to the two of them as she went to the door, ready for Chance to be confused, since it was locked.

Sure enough, a moment after Chance tried the door, he started to knock. "El? You okay in there?"

"Yep, perfectly fine," she called back from the other side.

"Okay, well, can I come in?" Chance said, sounding confused.

"No, _definitely not_ ," she said. " _Ocupado_."

"Um. Elin. I need a suit."

"What color?"

"The dark blue one," Chance said.

"Hold please," she said before she headed over to the closet to grab the suit. She stopped and held up two ties for Charlie to pick. "Which one?" she asked softly.

"The red one," she said quietly, though she was trying hard to keep from laughing outright.

"Of course," she said with a nod before she hung up the white one and then picked up the little rose and pine boutonniere. She headed to the door and opened it just a crack to slip the suit out — then the tie and flower. "Now go away."

She could hear Chance laughing on the other side of the door. "Tell Charlie her twin brother says congratulations," he said as he handed the suit and tie to Gerry.

"You can tell her yourself," Elin said, giving him a little look through the barely cracked open door before he leaned forward to steal a chaste kiss with what little room they _had_ to kiss through the cracked open door.

Chance laughed brightly. "Congrats, Charlie!" he called past Elin, which had both of the Summers sisters giggling together.

Once the boys were gone, Chloe positively fell apart. "That was beautiful."

"He was so _worried_ for a minute there," Elin laughed.

"He was," Chloe agreed as she finished with the flowers in Charlie's hair. "Alright. All that's left now is just… to watch for the gathering crowd." She dashed to the window to look out toward the garden. "Oh my gosh — Mom looks like she's going to explode."

"Want me to make sure you don't have stragglers?" Elin asked as she gestured for Chloe to get a dress too.

"Yes, please," Chloe said. "I'll take it from here."

"Thanks again," Charlie said, wrapping Elin up in another quick hug before she could leave.

"No problem," Elin said before she slipped out and headed down the steps, though when she got to the bottom, she turned sharply to where James had been hiding out away from the crowd to let him know his talents behind the lens were required.

Already, the crowd of friends and family was gathering — and since it was such a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment decision, a fair few of them were helping to get everything ready, too. Chairs were being moved outside, Storm was getting the right amount of snowfall — just a light dusting — Leslie Ann was busily growing an arch of red roses...

And, of course, a few people were looking out for the parents. Jess looked shocked still, though Clint looked perfectly tickled, especially considering how his own wedding had gone. Annie was almost nervously, frenetically thrilled, and Scott...

Logan had John in his arms as he took a short walk toward Scott and Annie. "You look like you're gonna be sick, Slim."

Scott looked up at Logan for a moment and then shook his head. "When he asked permission, I didn't think he meant _today_ ," he muttered.

"Never know with a Barton," Logan replied. "Clint didn't know until Nat informed him of what was goin' on."

"Just tell me there's not a reason for the rush, or wedding or not, I'm going to have to hit him," Scott said almost under his breath.

"Nope," Logan said, shaking his head seriously. "Nothin' like that on anyone."

"Good," Scott said, though he didn't exactly look or sound relieved, leaning back in his chair and nodding once to himself.

"Did it surprise you that he asked at all?" Logan asked as John shifted to look at Scott better.

"Like my little girl would do that without at least asking," Annie scoffed from Scott's other side.

"Not what I asked," Logan said, giving Annie a little look. "I asked if you were surprised that he asked. Was it a shock — or did you guess it was comin' sooner or later?"

Scott took a deep breath and held it before he let it out again. "I think I knew it was coming, but not this soon," he admitted.

"You'll be _fine_ ," Logan said in a low rumble.

"Yeah, I will be," Scott said, shaking his head a bit. "Just… wasn't expecting this."

"I'll pour you a drink after," Logan promised.

Scott smirked at that and nodded, though by that time, the boys had come back outside together, which meant that they were waiting for Charlie and Chloe to get things started. And when they did come down, Scott couldn't help but smile when he saw Charlie all dressed up with little red roses in her hair.

She stopped at the garden aisle to wait for Scott, and he smiled even wider before he got to his feet carefully. He could take the few steps down to Gerry with her, at least, and it was worth the fact that he was completely wiped by the time he got her down there to see the pure joy in her expression that finally got him to relax.

 _Did you know about this?_ Scott projected to Nate as he sat back down and Kurt started to go through the basic ceremony for the ecstatic couple.

 _Not … necessarily,_ Nate replied. _We knew it was_ a _Christmas but not_ this _Christmas._

 _That… doesn't exactly make me feel better,_ Scott said, though he was smirking all the same.

 _It's not a mistake,_ Nate responded, though the humor was plain to hear in his projection.

 _No, it's not,_ Scott had to agree as he watched Charlie positively grinning and bouncing at Gerry — especially the fact that he had twinkle lights blinking in each of the roses in her hair as he put the ring that Kate had found in her jewelry box onto Charlie's finger.

Of course, after Charlie and Gerry had kissed and Jubilee had thrown some fireworks over their heads, Annie couldn't resist giving them a hard time.

"If you'd given me an _hour_ , I could have at least had a cake," she said, shaking her head at them — though she was whipping up some hot chocolate for everyone there all the same.

"Mom, you're already making Christmas dinner tomorrow, it's fine," Charlie said, though Annie responded by leveling the spoon she was stirring chocolate with her way.

"I'm making you a cake on your anniversary," she said in a tone that brokered no argument.

"Yes ma'am."

Gerry just laughed at the whole thing as he pulled Charlie into a kiss. "C'mon, Lottie. You've got flowers to throw," he told her. "We're going to kick it off that way and then save the last dance for just you and me. Little bit backwards of the usual way, but it works for us, right?"

She shook her head at him but let him lead her off — and Kate took it upon herself to round up the ladies for the toss. And when Sadie ended up catching it — and Gerry tossed the borrowed garter and hit Kaleb with it — what resulted was the most amazing dance the group had seen between the bouquet-garter receivers at a wedding. The two of them were constantly trying to outdo one another; it was truly one of the showier dances they'd ever pulled off, but they were grinning the whole time and almost out of breath from trying to outdo each other. By the time Kaleb pulled her into a dip that was so low she nearly scraped the floor, both of their chests were heaving, and then he pulled her back up into a kiss.

" _Wunderbar_ ," he told her with a wide grin.

"Not bad," she countered with a half shrug before she kissed his cheek. "When you catch your breath, try to catch up, okay?"

He let out a scoffing noise. "Catch up?" he repeated as if he'd been insulted.

Sadie was grinning delightedly as she nodded. "Yes. I'm ready to go again. How about you?"

He let out a little growl and shook his head at her before he pulled her into a dip and kissed her cheek. "Why not a slower waltz so we can actually talk?" he offered.

"Oh, you want to _talk_? That really must have taken more out of you than you'll admit to," she said, still grinning before she wrapped her arms around his neck. "But okay."

He let out a light laugh before he kissed her outright. "You are such a flirt, Sadie."

"Pot, kettle," Sadie called out in a sing-song tone.

"Yes, but think of poor Howard. He could never compete with me," Kaleb teased.

"I see nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, even if it is hopeless," she replied.

Kaleb laughed as he pulled her into a slow spin. "You're going to break dozens of hearts by the time you're twenty," he said. "Hundreds by the time you're thirty. And heaven help the thousands you leave in your wake in your long lifetime."

"You're incredibly biased and an amazing flirt yourself," she said before she shook her head and let out a little sigh. "I'm sure you'll have me beat."

"Hundreds by the time I'm twenty," he teased.

"Perhaps that's because I'm going for quality over quantity," Sadie countered.

"Ah, but you don't have to be interested to break hearts," he pointed out. "You just have to be unattainable." He grinned and kissed her cheek. "But speaking as one of the people who gets your attention, I appreciate the quality comment," he teased.

"I have no intention to break hearts," Sadie told him before she smiled warmly, stepped a hair closer and simply leaned her head on his shoulder. "And I don't think you do either."

"It's all a tease, Sadie," he promised her as they spun.

"I'm well-aware," she laughed.

"And you and Howard — is that going well, really? I can drop him from a building if you need me to."

She looked up at him and shook her head. "He's good to me so far," she said. "Of course… my brother has a tendency to be a pain — still." She let go of his shoulder to hold up her hand so he could see the bracelet. "Little punk told Dad what it was; he laughed for half an hour."

"And you still can't take it off?" Kaleb asked, his tail swaying behind him and betraying his curiosity.

"No," she said, sounding incredibly irritated.

Kaleb leaned forward with a grin. "It must have gone off during the dance, then. And when you're doing ballet practice… that must be frustrating."

"I don't work that hard in ballet to make it go off," she pointed out, then stopped cold and swore loudly.

Kaleb laughed out loud. "Your brother is terrible. And I'm sure if you talked to your mom, you'd be able to figure a way out of it."

"She … actually said I needed to learn some self-control, of all things," Sadie said with a scoff.

Kaleb smirked. "That sounds boring," he said. And to prove his point, he teleported off with her to a different part of the dance floor so they could keep dancing.

And while the two of them were dancing, Kari came up behind James as he took pictures of the party going on and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Should I be worried about them? I'm not even sure which one would be the aggressor here."

"About who?" James asked, just before he got the shot he wanted of Charlie and Scott.

"My brother and your sister," Kari said, pointing with her tail to where Sadie and Kaleb were dancing.

James followed her focus and watched them for a moment. "I think they're just flirting. She's still pretty hung up on Howard."

"And Kaleb flirts with literally everyone," Kari said with a smile. "He's ridiculous."

He shrugged. "Probably just havin' fun," he said. "I think if they were unattached and decided to fool around a little, it'd be more obvious."

Kari shook her head at that. "Not sure that makes me feel any better," she teased.

He stopped and turned her way. "Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, nothing," Kari said. "But my sweet little brother has never actually _dated_ anyone. Flirted, yes. He wouldn't know what to do with himself," she giggled.

"Well … he'll figure it out," James said with an understated smirk.

Kari smiled at that before she held out a hand. "You should have at least one dance," she said. "You're a guest at the wedding too, not just the photographer."

He let out a breath and slung the camera over his shoulder. "Is that a suggestion or would you actually _like_ to dance?"

"Well, if you want to dance with someone else, I'll just pout in the corner," she teased.

"You do and I'll take a picture of it and turn it into next year's Christmas cards."

She laughed outright before she teleported him into the dance floor and started to dance with him.

As Kari and James danced together, they didn't escape the notice of their older siblings, however, and Krissy teleported over to Elin with a grin. "Should we be worried, or should we be encouraging them? I legitimately don't even know."

"I'm … not sure," Elin said. "He has no clue; I can tell you that."

"Must be something about the mutation," Krissy teased.

Elin pushed Krissy's shoulder. "No, it's more with the personal outlook on ourselves, if you want to be honest. But please, keep picking when you strung yours along for, oh … _his whole life._ "

Krissy flushed, since it was definitely a fair call-out, and she knew it. "Well, Kari won't do that here," she said quickly.

"Neither would James," Elin said. "He's just … not under the impression that he ... I don't know. He doesn't think he deserves it."

"Well, I'm of the opinion that no one deserves my little sister, but he's about as close as you can get to deserving her," Krissy said, tipping her head toward where Sying was still snuggling Ariel. "He's godfather to my little girl, after all."

"He's just … I can't even say he's like that since the whole … stupid evil bad guy thing," Elin said. "I wish I could, but … not so. That's just him."

"Then maybe this whole dating thing will be good for him," Krissy said. "Even if he's cluelessly not going out with my sister."

"You know, he might have an _inkling?_ But he might not want to screw her up, too. And don't say that's not possible. Just don't." Elin gave Krissy a warning look and crossed her arms. "Not on purpose, of course … just … issues."

"Yeah, but… _Kari_ ," Krissy said. "She's the most sane of all of us."

"And he's really kind of the most unstable right now," Elin replied. "You should have seen him in the cafe. Friendly bad guys are a major trigger. And there are probably still quite a few that'd like to be friendly with him."

"Yeah, Chance told me about that," Krissy said with a frown. "Idiots. All of them."

Elin watched the two of them dancing for a moment longer. "How deep is she?"

Krissy paused, her tail moving slowly. "Deep enough that she was in _deep_ denial when she heard that James was Death."

"That's … I think a few people were in that deep, though," Elin said. "I didn't want to believe it until, you know, he tried to take my head off."

Krissy nodded. "Yeah, it was easier for the ones that actually fought," she said. "Not… _easier_. That's the wrong word. I mean you couldn't quite do the denial thing like we could." She glanced down at her stomach, which was now flat again. "I… Kari and I… we spent weeks just… I don't even know. 'Terror and worry' doesn't seem to cover it."

"Yeah, well. I hit him in the head with a brick, so that made it easier to cope in the moment," Elin said, nodding.

Krissy smirked. "Think that would work to get him to pull his head out for Kari?

"Definitely not," Elin laughed. "I don't even know if he likes her that way. He loves her, but I don't know if it's _romantic._ "

"Well, she's not going to push him when he's dating other people," she pointed out.

"Oh, I know," Elin replied. "I'm just saying. I don't know what's going on in that thick head of his."

"No one does," Krissy said with a smirk before she leaned over to kiss Elin's cheek. "Come on. My husband is going nuts showing off our little girl, and I haven't gotten to hold her since the last time she ate. You should help me fix this."

"How do you want me to remedy your situation?" Elin asked, blinking innocently.

"Insist on dancing with your nephew," Krissy said. "Or threaten him; I'm flexible."

Elin gave her a little smirk. "How about a little bit of both?" She took Krissy's arm and the two of them headed over to where Sying was showing off Ariel. Elin tapped him on the shoulder and waited just long enough for him to turn to face her. "Hey. You need to hand over the little one before someone gets hurt. I would like to dance with you. One time around."

Sying blinked at Elin for a second before he burst into a laugh and nodded, handing Ariel to Krissy with a kiss Krissy could snuggle their fluffy little elfling before he grabbed Elin by the hand and led her out onto the dance floor.

With all of the kids out on the floor, some of the adults were sitting off to the side, watching as the next generation of heroes danced and enjoyed themselves together.

Clint wrapped Natasha up from behind, nuzzling into her hair with a shameless, crooked grin. "Kinda familiar, huh?"

"Just a bit, I suppose," she replied, though she didn't try hard at all to hide her smirk.

He just chuckled, still nuzzling into her hair, peppering kisses along her neck. "I mean, at least they both knew they were getting married."

"Are you complaining?" She turned to look at him better. "I can take it back."

He grinned and shook his head before he leaned in to kiss her properly. "Nope, not complaining. Just saying he had to learn it somewhere."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Natasha said flatly.

"Uh-huh," he said, smirking a little at her before he brushed back some of her hair. "Not gonna lie; this whole thing is making me feel nostalgic. We should run away somewhere, debris-covered shirts… do something spur-of-the-moment…"

She smirked a little wider and slipped her arms around the back of his neck. "Shouldn't we blow up an invading force first? I can show you how to shoot those alien weapons..."

"I know how to shoot straight, Nat," he said, grinning at her.

"It's okay to ask for help, Barton," she said, keeping the troublemaking look. "So I'm told."

He grinned at her even wider. "Alright. Nat, I'd like a little help finding someplace romantic."

"Consider it done," she said arching one eyebrow.

"Good," he said, then kissed her. "Wouldn't want you getting bored with your old man."

"You'd have to fall entirely short for that to be an issue," she told him.

"I'll try not to do that," he said with a smile.

* * *

As for the bride and groom themselves, the two of them constantly surrounded by family from either side in some way or another. Whether it was Clint spinning Charlie around to welcome her into the family or Chloe doing her best intimidating sister impression to let Gerry know that he had better take care of her, they hardly had a moment just the two of them.

Not that they minded. Both of them loved to be surrounded by people and family especially, so they were in their element, grinning along to all of it as the two sides of the impromptu wedding seemed to try to come to terms with the sudden relation.

 _I'm really glad that you guys came,_ Charlie projected to Nate a second before she rushed over to give him a solid hug, riding high and grinning widely.

Nate had to smirk as he returned the hug and peeked slightly at her thoughts. _Because the whole thrown-together wedding happened so you could have everyone here?_ he had to tease her. _I'll take credit for that._

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at him as she pulled on his hand, insisting that he dance with her. "It's my wedding, after all, and I want to dance with the only big brother I have," she pointed out — which Nate really couldn't argue with.

"Really, though," Charlie said once they'd settled into a good spin. "It wouldn't have been the same without you."

Nate couldn't help smiling at her for that one. "Hey, I'm just glad I could be there for you."

She grinned up at him and stopped the dance so she could instead simply throw her arms around his neck to hug him, laughing when his response was to pick her up to hug her better.

"Oh, she's not coming down from this high for a _long_ time," Gerry said with a smile as Annie insisted on a dance with him while Charlie was occupied.

Annie had to laugh at that and nod her agreement. "We're all thrilled," she told him, though she leaned forward with a spark of mischief in her gaze. "Even if you didn't tell any of us what you were planning!" she added and smacked him in the chest lightly with the back of her hand.

"To be fair, it wasn't so much a plan as it was a moment of realization," he told her with a shrug. "I love her, and she agreed to marry me, so… why wait?"

Annie shook her head at him for that one. "Well, I'm glad," she said decisively. "You make her so happy — just look at her smiling."

Gerry followed her gaze to where Charlie was still delightedly laughing and dancing with Nate and couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own. "Yeah, it's nice when she's got a smile on that's her own happiness and not someone else's," he said. "I try to give her that as much as I can."

Annie couldn't help but lean over to kiss his cheek when she heard it. "You take such good care of my little girl."

"Hey, that's my job now, isn't it?" Gerry pointed out, smiling crookedly.

"And don't you forget it," Annie said, then laughed when Gerry's response was to grin and pull her into a twirl further out onto the dance floor — only to steal Charlie from Nate and swap her for Annie.

"Thanks for keeping her warmed up for me!" Gerry called over his shoulder as he danced away with Charlie.

Charlie shook her head at him. "You're incorrigible."

"You say that now, but you still married me, like, an hour ago, so I'm going to have to say no, no I'm not," Gerry said, clearly enjoying himself as he spun with her.

She couldn't help laughing at him. "Okay, that's true," she admitted, getting an even wider grin.

"So!" He pulled her into a kiss. "Obviously, we're sticking around for Christmas, but we should find someplace to go after that. I think Nat's got a few tucked away places that we could look into."

She couldn't stop smiling at him as she nodded slowly. "That would work — as long as they're not in Siberia or something." She shivered. "That's _too_ cold for me."

"No, no, she's got places all over," Gerry assured her. "But for a Christmas wedding, it should definitely be someplace with snow."

"True," she said, biting her lip as she thought it over before she simply shrugged and draped her arms around his shoulders as they danced. "I'll leave it up to you to decide. This whole thing was your idea, really."

"I like to think of it as a joint spur-of-the-moment decision," Gerry argued. "But sure, I can find someplace cozy for a winter getaway."

Charlie smiled and stole a quick kiss. "Sounds perfect," she agreed.


	4. Hands Off The Elfling

Everyone was still riding the high from the surprise Christmas Eve wedding when Scott asked Leslie Ann if she'd stop by his office the day after Christmas.

She was more than happy to say 'hi' to her favorite uncle, though she wasn't quite expecting Logan to be there too. "What's going on?" she asked as she sat down.

"We think it's about time for you to rejoin the team," Scott told her frankly.

"What?"

"I know you've been taking the time off after what happened with Apocalypse, but from what Rachel tells me, you've got your powers almost back to where they were before, and you've been able to deal with the anxiety over your experience much better."

Leslie Ann stared at him for a long moment. "Are you sure you want me back?" she asked at last.

"Of course we do," Scott said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"But every time I'm on the team, something happens," Leslie Ann blurted out.

Scott and Logan shared a frown before Scott asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Every time I come back, someone dies," she said, though saying it out loud made it sound ridiculous and childish, and she flushed, looking down at her hands.

"That's not how it works," Scott said in a quieter tone. "And we want to see you back. All of us do."

Leslie Ann examined her hands for a long moment before she let her shoulders drop. "I don't know," she said. She glanced at Logan, then up at Scott, then down to her hands. "Maybe it would be better if I was just a teacher."

"So you just want to let him take that away from you?" Logan asked, frowning.

Leslie Ann's head came up fast as she looked his way, then narrowed her eyes. "I didn't say that," she said.

"That's what you're talking about doing, though," Logan said. "I know you've heard what we've had to say about this mess. And you know what your uncle's been through — and I can tell you I had the gig for a helluva lot longer than anyone else did. Can't let it screw with you."

"Every time I've done this, something terrible has happened," Leslie Ann said. "The initiative? Neil? And then Apocalypse?"

"You're skippin' over all the good you've done, darlin'," Logan said gently.

"If the rest of us threw in the towel every time something bad happened, none of us would be X-Men," Scott said.

"Do you know how many people I've had to bury — just personally? Not anyone the team ever knew, necessarily?" Logan asked. "You can't stop. That's not living."

She let out a long breath as she looked between the two of them, then settled on Logan in particular. "I tried to kill you," she said.

"Join the club," Logan said before he tipped his head toward Scott. "He's tried once or twice too."

"I came pretty close," she pointed out. "And I wasn't sorry about it for a long time."

He shrugged. "Still didn't do it," Logan said. "And I don't care if you were sorry about it."

"Well, I am now," Leslie Ann said. "And I _do_ care."

"Honey, I've nearly killed everyone on this team at one point or another. Sometimes on purpose - sometimes just out of my mind — and that's without outside forces." He shook his head. "I don't personally think that's enough to quit over."

"And Logan's right," Scott said, drawing her attention. "You can't let him take this away from you. You've wanted to be an X-Man since I've known you."

"Telepathic possession seems to be part of the gig," Logan said before he glanced over at Scott. "You should probably put in a disclaimer to the newbies."

"Welcome to the X-Men, hope you survive the experience — oh, and your mind might get taken over. Just so you know," Scott said dryly.

"Might," Logan scoffed.

"I experiment with optimism."

"I am _positive_ that it'll happen sooner or later."

Leslie Ann couldn't help but smile as she looked between the two of them.

"But I'm also positive that you're in no better place to _fix it_ when it does happen," Logan continued.

"Alright," she said at last. "Alright. But on one condition." She looked between the two of them, honestly serious. "I don't want to live here unless David's here too."

Logan shrugged and turned Scott's way. "Your call, Uncle Scooter."

Scott smirked and shook his head. "We could use a technopath around here. It's up to him, but I'll make an offer, sure."

Leslie Ann broke into a smile at that. "Thanks, Uncle Scott."

Logan got to his feet and crossed over to give Leslie Ann a hug. "Welcome back, darlin'."

* * *

But for as wonderful as Christmas had been for the group, as they got toward the new year, the junior and senior squad found themselves incredibly busy. Extremists on both sides were calling for their followers to start the new year by getting rid of the "inferior" species — humans or mutants, depending on which group you talked to. Which meant that there had been a serious uptick in not only hate crimes but outright murders — enough so that it was impossible to keep up with all of them at once for how widespread the problem was.

For a lot of these calls, the senior squad would deal with some of the more established groups, like the Friends of Humanity, simply because those groups had been around long enough that they had plenty of experience killing mutants. So a lot of the more dangerous calls came from that side of things, though the worst of the Superior Rising and other groups also tended to get sharp rebukes from the older heroes - who had experience dealing with rogue mutants, too.

And there were a few calls where it wasn't quite clear if any group was involved or who the instigators were — and even a few where it was just a straight up clash of humans versus mutants.

"I'm not entirely sure that the public outreach has slowed things down," Kaleb told Chloe as a few of the junior squad members went to one of those calls — where there were reports of violence breaking out. "Provided hope, yes, but as for slowing violence… perhaps not."

"We'll have to see what it looks like," Chloe said diplomatically. "It could be seasonal, right?"

Kaleb tipped his head her way and let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, I know," he said. "But it's hard to see any difference when I don't think we've stopped since, oh, Christmas." He shook his head. "Don't mind me — I just miss spending time with my little niece."

"Oh, you're another one with baby face, huh?" Chloe said, shaking her head. "She is cute, but you're a little young to be baby crazy."

"Excuse you — I'm trying to get her to say her first word," Kaleb said, laughing and failing at trying to look offended.

"Which you think should be …"

"'Mama,' clearly," Kaleb said. "I'm working with my sister against the _telepathic Lees_ , I tell you."

"What did you do to get in trouble like that?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "Can't I just be a good uncle and brother, hmm?"

She shook her head and smirked his way. "I was sure you'd be on your dad's side …"

"That's ridiculous."

"It's all going to be a waste of time anyhow," Elin said from behind them.

"What makes you said that?" Kaleb asked, turning her way.

"For starters, she's too young to start that — and aside from that, I'm on _my_ dad's side."

"Well, you never know — she's part alien, and Sying did things faster than normal, so I'm starting early," Kaleb offered.

Elin shook her head at that and continued on to the front of the jet. She wasn't going to argue what she knew — and what she'd _seen_ with all of her little sisters and brothers. Or how it got done. That would take away the fun, after all.

There was a little bit of teasing back and forth as they headed out to the source of the disturbance, though once they got there to find that there were already people outright brawling with each other, they simply got down to work to start breaking things up.

They were trying to de-escalate the situation, especially since they couldn't see any of the telltale purple shirts, tattoos, or even FOH equipment that would indicate anyone belonged to a specific group. So it was entirely likely that this was just a clash of humans and mutants simply because of their differences.

Which really wasn't something that they wanted to see, all things considered. They had known that rising mutant numbers would be hard to accept for a lot of people, but this time of transition was downright rough.

"Real hard to see the peaceful coexistence," Chance muttered to Elin in an undertone as they ran toward the group.

"Sweetheart, we're supposed to set the example for that," she replied quietly.

"Oh, I know," he said. "But it'd be nice to see it outside of us sometimes."

"It happens," she said, turning his way to give him a little smile. "We're just hanging out where the trouble is. The job, right? If we're not doing this kind of thing, what are we supposed to do on the team?"

"Flirt?" he teased with a perfectly innocent look her way.

"Oh? You haven't started yet?" she replied with the same innocent look.

"Not in _earnest_ ," he said, smirking. "Not today, anyway."

"You're slipping, Mr. Summers."

"I know. I must be getting tired," he teased, twirling his twin guns before he shot her a huge grin and dove into the fight.

Elin, on the other hand, focused on finding out who, if anyone, was heading up the mess, and locked her focus onto them. She was going to take down the guy in charge and make an example out of him for his following. Of course, that meant she had a few people to hit on the way there, but … she was going to do it all the same.

The rest of the team was doing their part to break up the violence. It was honestly a bit easier to break this group up because it was smaller, and it really did feel more like a riot than a directed campaign of violence.

But that didn't mean they weren't diving in. With Gerry out of the game, Sying was back in it for the first time after taking time off for paternity leave, more or less, and though he had some nerves, he and Chance were fast breaking up groups of people with stunning shots. Chloe wasn't using her optic blasts if she could help it, because she was still working on controlling the intensity of her blasts, but she did end up hitting a couple boys who got too close with low-power beams that knocked them out.

Elin had gotten to the man whipping up the crowd, found out that he was really nothing more than a loudmouth — no surprises there — and by the time she got done putting a sleeper hold on him, there wasn't much to do. She'd kept back anyone that tried to stop her, but once the team had started tearing into them … they actually started to disperse.

"This is too easy," she said to herself as she looked out at the rest of the team from the little raised platform the loudmouth was on, still waiting for the police to come and grab the guy, since the officers weren't stepping in until the heat was off.

As the last of the crowd started to let up, the others were gathering up too. "Well, that was a good stretch," Sying said mildly, though he was frowning around the group. There had been a few moments already where some people on the Superior Rising side of thinking had swarmed around Sying, chanting how it was a sign that they had _War_ on their side. Though Sying had darted out of there, he still wasn't sure the best way to approach them. Or avoid them.

"Yeah, I'd like to not complain about that, but it feels off," Chance agreed, though he had directed Chloe to look through the scene, see if they could identify what groups were involved, if there were any known entities, that kind of thing.

Elin was giving the official statement to the police from what she knew, and what she'd seen from the stage — which offered her a better view than the others had. She wasn't entirely surprised to find that the guy that she'd knocked out that was inciting the riot was wanted for multiple other offenses. But it wasn't until then that she even started to turn toward where the rest of the team was gathered.

While the cop was finishing up, she went to her comm. "Is everyone here?"

"We're not all gathered. Found a few Friends of Humanity paraphernalia items that we're checking into," Chance replied. "Sying and Kaleb should be doing their usual clean-up."

"Get a check in from everyone. I'm not quite done here," she said a little quieter.

"You got it," Chance said, though it wasn't another three minutes before he buzzed her again. "Okay. Kaleb's not responding, and Sying can't find him in the area. Did you send him somewhere, or am I just hoping real hard?"

"No, I'll do a quick spiral if you can get up here and finish up," Elin said. "He should be near the fountain. That's where he was last I saw him."

"On it," Chance promised, jogging over to where Elin was.

The two of them did a quick switch out, and she started off at a run, spiraling out from the last place they knew h'd been, though it was pretty apparent to the others when she found Kaleb's scent trail and shifted direction fast, heading out the same way the crowd had gone. She didn't say anything until she was several blocks down and the scent ended at the road. _The road._ Not a random spot like he always picked when he was done patrolling and teleported to go back to his team. After spiraling out from that spot, it was pretty obvious that he simply wasn't there. "He's gone," Elin said through the comms, running back toward the scene.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Chloe asked, the obvious worry apparent even in just her voice.

"I mean I followed his scent — which was mixed with about half a dozen other scents — and all of them disappeared in the same spot," Elin said. "I'm calling Dad."

"I'll talk to my dad — see if he can send David," Chloe added. "The guys' a whizz with cameras. Traffic cams, surveillance…"

"I can point out which ones to use," Elin said. "Looked right at 'em."

"Great."

For a few moments, Elin's comm went dead as she called her father to fill him in — and within a few moments, there were several bamfs of smoke and sulfur as Kurt appeared with David per Chloe's request. She took him to the spot where Kaleb had vanished and pointed out the cameras before she explained what she knew to Kurt.

Kurt's frown deepened the more he heard, and his tail started to twitch at the very tip, but then David broke into the report to wave them over. "I can set up the feed for you, he said. "My power works a little differently than Forge's; it's more… conversion. Programming. I can get things to talk to each other." He pulled up his phone so he could show them the video he'd downloaded from the camera — which showed about five or six different guys dragging an unconscious Kaleb to the road to load him into a truck.

Kurt's tail had gone still as he watched the feed. "Do you know where they've taken him?" he asked softly.

"I can run a program synching up with traffic cams and follow the truck," David said, already starting to run the data on his phone as he thought about it. "Might still be moving. I'll let you know when I have a destination and coordinates."

By the time David was into his program and Kurt was really starting to get worked up, the rest of the junior squad had caught up, and every one of them looked worried and Sying was bouncing in place with nerves.

"There were Friends of Humanity creeps there," Chance said. "Think this is them?"

" _Now_ can we bring my brother out to help?" Elin asked, arms crossed.

"If he can hold back, yeah," Chance shot back. "I'm not the one you gotta talk to on that."

She gave him a dry look. "I wasn't actually asking you," she had to tease.

Chance shrugged at that, but before they could really comment on it either way, David waved to get their attention. "Alright. So. Big underground parking area. I can give you coordinates. Looks like he's up and bit some guy's hand too, so, you know. In case you were worried."

Kurt looked toward the bamfs that had come with him and pointed to David. "Tell Logan I'll meet him _there,_ " he said before simply disappeared in a poof of blue — with Logan arriving not far behind him with the bamfs looking murderous.

It was easy to spot the group of jerks that had decided to try and run off with one of the junior X-Men, especially since said junior X-Man was doing his best to fight back against them. The Friends of Humanity knew enough at least to have him tagged and to tie his tail with his hands so that he couldn't lash out at them with it, but he was still doing his best.

In an instant, Kurt had teleported over and bashed through the men on either side of Kaleb, positively _furious_ and looking every inch a demon as he bared his teeth at the men and tossed them aside, away from Kaleb.

And while Kurt got close, Logan bashed into anyone and everyone around him, throwing some of the supporters into others, breaking all sorts of facial bones with every strike, and doing his best to clear the path to where Kaleb was. He was also stopping as many people as he and the bamfs could from leaving before they could be dealt with.

Kurt had teleported out of the knot of men with Kaleb to get him out of the line of fire — which freed Logan up to have a little fun dealing out some well earned snarls and strikes. And while his best friend was sure to make the men responsible regret their every life choice, Kurt quickly cut through the ropes around Kaleb's wrists and tail and looked him over with a critical eye.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice constricted and tense as he tried to push back his growl.

Kaleb nodded quickly, though he winced a bit when Kurt looked over the back of his head where he'd gotten hit pretty hard. "Yeah. I didn't see who hit me," he said, sounding honestly frustrated and embarrassed on top of the fact that he'd been caught up and was shaken by it.

Kurt frowned again but pulled Kaleb into a solid hug, making sure that, aside from the bump on the head and the fact that he had one of the tags sticking out of his shoulder, he was otherwise uninjured. When it was clear that Kaleb was at least coming down from some of the real panic, Kurt directed the bamfs to take him back home and then turned to rejoin Logan in dealing with the few remaining Friends of Humanity men.

* * *

The junior team, meanwhile, wasn't in the best of moods heading back with David, even if they had gotten word that Kaleb was back home and all was relatively well. Elin in particular was overly quiet for the ride back.

Chance reached over to squeeze her hand. "He's gonna be fine," he promised.

"Yeah, I know," she said, keeping her gaze forward. "Doesn't make it right, though."

"I wasn't saying it was right," he said. "Obviously."

"I know you weren't," she said, shaking her head. "I'm just … ticked off."

He squeezed her hand again. "Hey, like you said, it's part of the job."

"Just makes me wonder if we're doing it right, that's all. Team members _shouldn't_ get snatched from right under our noses."

"It was probably on me. I was caught up helping Chloe do the investigation thing and didn't do a head count while you were with the police."

She shook her head at that. "No."

"Real solid argument, El."

"It's more solid than 'probably'," she countered. "You're just guessing. I'm saying 'no'."

Chance let out a breath and then kissed her cheek. "My mom always said, if they're coming after you, you're doing something right."

"Does not make me feel better somehow," Elin said slowly.

"Yeah, but it makes us right," Chance said with a little smirk.

She turned to look at him finally. "You're really reaching right now."

"Just trying to make you feel better," he said honestly. "And we _are_ right. Going out there, making a difference, putting giant targets on our backs. All of it."

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but our team is full of a bunch of damsels in distress," Elin said, subtly looking toward Sying, who absolutely looked anxious and lost, though he'd managed to make it through his first-ever mission back.

"I like to think of us more like shields," Chance said with a shrug. "People are so busy being mad at us they don't take it out on the people who can't take it."

"Damsel," she said quietly. "In a tower. Waving your handkerchief."

Chance finally just shook his head at her and kissed her. "Maybe I like my knight in shining armor," he told her low.

"I don't have armor — just a patch."

"I like that too."

She sighed but couldn't find it in her to argue with him, either. "So … are you ready to face Dads?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, they're not going to be happy. Either of them."

"You're so grounded. No sleepovers for a week," she teased quietly.

"Let 'em try and stop me," he said before he stole a kiss. "I married you, sweetheart."

"I noticed," she said, nodding. "We'll see if they remember that."

* * *

While Chance and Elin flirted their way down to the briefing, though, Chloe had gone straight down to the medical wing to go find Kaleb, honestly worried about him when she heard that was where he was.

Kaleb was sitting on one of the beds in the lab talking with Hank — the obvious red tag still sticking out of his shoulder, since it was no longer as simple as getting Kitty to take them out when this kind of thing happened — but glanced up with a grin when he saw Chloe. "You look worried," he said. "I'm alright, really. Whatever they wanted out of me, they didn't get me all the way to wherever they were planning to be a problem."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," she replied with a dry look.

"Well then, I'm sincerely sorry that I worried you," he said. "It was bad luck, really. I didn't see them."

Hank smiled to himself as he took a slight step back from his examination. "It seems there's nothing more pressing than a minor surgery for that tag and a small concussion," he said. "You were very lucky, Mr. Wagner."

Chloe had her arms crossed and a little frown in place as she listened to it all before she simply nodded once and took a step backward. "Good," she said, though she didn't sound relieved or relaxed at all. "Then … I'll just see you when you wake up then."

Kaleb raised an eyebrow her way for a moment but didn't say anything further, simply letting Hank get him set up. Though shortly after Hank had Kaleb asleep, Hank did make it a point to tell Chloe where she could find a seat close by. "It shouldn't be too long; it's a simple removal."

She nodded quickly and let out her breath. "Okay, yes. Thank you." She hesitated, then quickly crossed the span to give Hank a quick kiss on the cheek. "Okay. I'll do that."

Hank couldn't help but smirk to himself as he watched Chloe take a seat to wait for Kaleb. He wouldn't say anything, of course, but he wondered just how long Chloe would be dancing around her feelings — and if it would be half as painful as it had been watching her father when he was not much older than she was.

But the truth of the matter was that Kaleb was incredibly lucky; the tag hadn't hit anything important or embedded in bone. And so it really was a straightforward procedure; it didn't take long at all before Kaleb was up.

Hank shook his head to himself as he watched Chloe greeting the barely awake Kaleb. No, he wouldn't say anything, but he would definitely keep an eye on those two.

* * *

Sying had waited exactly long enough for Elin and Chance to step into the elevator to go find Scott for their debrief before he darted up the stairs at nearly top speed, banking off of the walls as he took the turns. It was faster than using the steps anyhow. He easily beat the elevator to the main floor, then blew by anyone that might have been wandering the halls by using the ceiling as his path of least resistance to his wife. All he could think about was getting to Krissy so he could hold onto her and Ariel and remind himself that even if it was some of the same faces he'd seen supporting them when they were Horsemen … he was no longer dealing with the control that Apocalypse had over them.

He was _back to himself_. No one was in control of him but himself. No one had any say in what he did or didn't do … except, of course for those he chose to bring into his decision making process. That was what Grammy K had said to him over and over. That was what he had to remember - and the best way for him to recenter and get back into his own mind was to get to Krissy.

She was rocking Ariel when he got to their suite - her tail swaying behind her, though the tip of it was flicking in irritation and her ears were drooping betraying how incredibly worn out she had to be in spite of the cheerful tone of her voice as she sang a lullaby in German to the cooing ball of white fluff that was staring up at her in pure awe and admiration. It was, in fact nearly the same look that Sying always had when he would watch Krissy. He stood in the doorway for a moment too long. He'd intended to catch up to her and sweep her into a kiss, but seeing her with their daughter had him frozen in place with a crooked, awe-inspired look that had totally obliterated the anxiety he'd had when he'd first headed her way.

Then, Krissy turned, still bouncing Ariel. She looked up at him and her body language shifted - her shoulders drooping and her whole stance relaxing in pure relief on seeing him. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here. She has been fussing and I can't _do_ anything for her." She smiled at him, trouble dancing in her gaze as she turned Ariel to see her father. "I'll bet she'll snuggle up for you. Family trait? Please?"

Sying couldn't stop the breathless laugh from erupting from his lips before he crossed the space between them - faster than a blink. In one smooth move, he scooped up Ariel with one arm and pulled Krissy in closer with the other to steal a long, involved, and rather heated kiss that stole her breath away and left her staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Much better now," he said, honestly meaning it. Yes, he was still stressed, but the anxiety that had been so heavy just a few moments earlier had melted into nothingness.


	5. Very Drunk Summers

It felt like the team had been going nonstop through the new year, trying to prevent several groups from trying to kill each other off to start the year "fresh". Which meant that for the most part, Chance had spent his twenty-first birthday putting out fires, both literal and figurative.

But there was simply no way that Logan was going to let the kid make it to twenty-one without marking the occasion.

Not to mention the fact that all of them — senior squad _and_ junior squad — could use a break after the nonstop missions trying to keep the peace. And really, Kurt and Logan wanted the excuse anyway.

So as soon as there was a break in the action, Logan walked up behind Chance and clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder hard. "You're coming with us."

Chance's head came up, and he raised his eyebrows high. "O-kay. Where?"

"Don't worry about it," Logan said. "Just move it."

Chance looked over at Logan for a moment and then decided to run with it — it had been a long day anyway. He let Logan lead the way, wondering what was going on — and if something _else_ had come up this time.

The two of them started down the hall all the way to the pool room, where Kurt and K were already trading barbs. It was quickly apparent what the plan was, since there were about half a dozen bottles of hard liquor sitting around the pool table. "Happy Birthday, sweetheart," K called out. "You gotta do this at least once. It's like … a rite of passage."

Chance couldn't help but let out a sharp laugh. "Literally been waiting for the day I turned twenty-one, huh?"

"Your dad would have actually had another stroke otherwise," Logan pointed out as he and K met up - and snapped on a pair of inhibitors.

Kurt grinned lazily as he draped his arm around Chance's shoulders. "And now," he said, pointing toward Logan and K, "we are on somewhat equal footing."

"Don't know what you're talking about," K said with a little laugh. "You're probably going to outpace us, if we're being honest."

"Yes, well, some of us have already done this without the benefit of healing," he teased.

"Not our fault our God-given gifts make it so we can drink you under the table," Logan laughed.

"Not this time," Kurt said, already pouring up the drinks in four glasses.

"Come on, Chance … first one's on you," K said. "Do it right. No faces. Just … throw it back."

Chance frowned a bit at the glass, closed one eye, and then shrugged before he did just that - and immediately pulled a terrible face. "What. _Why_."

"Pride," Logan said before he threw his back with a little smile.

Chance shook his head as Kurt simply chuckled with him and filled his glass once more. "The first is always a shock," he promised.

"You get over the taste as it goes on," K swore. "You know. Because you can't feel your tongue anymore."

Chance frowned at that, but with Kurt watching him, he tried it again, still pulling a face but trying to keep up all the same.

"And so we don't just get completely sideways all at once," Logan said before he handed him a pool cue. "We play in the meantime. Pick your partner."

Chance couldn't help but laugh as he took it. "Alright, I'll take you, Dad. Since you're running things," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, you're goin' _down_ ," K growled out before she went over to stand by Kurt — and the two of them started conspiring.

Chance shook his head to himself as he lined up to break. "I see how it is. Hand me the pool cue after you give me alcohol for the first time. Just saying."

"Clearly, your judgement is lax already," Kurt said with a grin. "Two shots in and you're picking the wrong partner entirely."

"Hey, I stand by that pick," Chance said. "Can't a guy play with his father-in-law?"

"Sore losers," Logan said. "Ignore 'em."

Chance smirked at that before he moved to line up his first shot. "You'd be doing this anyway even if it wasn't my birthday," he pointed out.

"What? What are you talking about?" K asked. "We weren't going to do this. Tonight."

"Uh-huh," Chance said without looking her way.

"Sore losers," Kurt said with a grin.

At that, Chance looked up at Kurt and broke into a smirk. "Exactly."

The teasing, of course lasted through the first two games — and by halfway through the second, all of them were certainly feeling the alcohol. The three oldest were smiling — a lot more than usual — Chance was in a great mood, and the cheating was just starting to warm up.

As would be expected, K was making it her mission to screw with Logan — with a lot more success than she'd have had if he wasn't as tipsy as he was already — and Kurt had twice used his tail to tip Chance's shot at the last second, pushing the cue off track.

Of course, the second time Kurt tried it, Chance simply made it a point to poke Kurt in the ribs with the end of his cue "accidentally" when he was lining up his next shot. "Oh. Must be tipsy."

"Not tipsy enough," K laughed before she pulled out the next round. "Getting there, though. You're still too … Summersy."

"You think whiskey is going to make me not…?" He gestured at himself wordlessly.

"Might bring out the Hale more if you get enough in you," Kurt suggested.

"I'm not going to get a deep accent magically the more I drink if that's what you're thinking," Chance said with a little smirk.

"That's just … negative thinking," Logan said, shaking his head. "You _could._ "

"I mean, I can fake one," Chance said. "Heard it often enough."

"Only if you promise to fake it badly," Logan laughed.

Chance thought about it for a second before he broke into a grin and did a very, very bad accent. "Only if'n y'all promise ya ain't gon' tell mah mama."

Logan was snickering outright, and Kurt fell apart, pointing Chance's way. "You sound like Rogue."

Chance was clearly enjoying himself as he reached for his glass. "Y'all actin' like ya ain't never heard no accent 'fore," he said, grinning over the top of his glass.

But that just had Kurt totally beside himself, and Logan trying not to burst out losing it beside him. "It's so close," he said, laughing to himself.

Chance grinned over at K and leaned over. "Well, one's on the ground," he said. "But if my fake one sounds like a real one, what more can ya do?"

"Whatcha gonna do aboot the other one, eh?" K said as thickly as she could, going the other way. Which, of course, nearly killed Kurt and had Logan laughing outright.

Chance started laughing too, barely keeping it together. "Naw, ma'am, I ain't got a Yankee accent like that in this here rep-ar-tee."

K grinned at him, pouring the next round. "Uh-oh, no footer on the hoser."

But that just had Chance laughing outright. "I don't even know what that _means_ ," he said, without the accent.

It was clear that Logan got it, though, because he and Kurt were totally beside themselves by that point — with Kurt pointing to Logan to say, "You didn't tell me she spoke _Canadian._ "

"That ain't even Yankee, sweetheart," K laughed. "It's so much more frozen than that."

"It wasn't even English!" Chance giggled.

"It so was," K defended. "I thought you would have known, seeing as you lived there — surviving off of beaver tail and poutine."

"I spent all my time in Canada flying and dealing with a pushy Hydra girl from the Baltics," Chance said, shaking his head. "So, no. Didn't get that part of it, no."

"So … that means you have no chance of beating the two professional drunks at five pin?" She grinned up at him. "You could at least try. If we had the stuff for it."

"I think I'm okay with what's here," Chance said, shaking his head at her. "You're trying to give me alcohol poisoning on my first legal day."

"If we were doing that, we wouldn't have started the pool game," K said before she gestured to where Kurt and Logan had tried to keep upright, laughing — and at least four shots ahead of Chance.

Chance smirked. "Alright, good point," he had to agree, still smiling to himself as he sat down to watch the two older men giggling madly.

K handed him another drink and leaned on the back of the couch next to him. "They're fun to watch like this."

"Kinda wish Charlie was here — she'd love it," Chance said, tipping his head back to look at her.

"We'll hit her when she gets back," K promised. "Then you can show her up."

"You're assuming Gerry didn't ask his mom to leave them any vodka or even wine…"

"Oh, but that doesn't count," K swore, nodding to herself. "You gotta do this with those two to make it count."

"If you say so, Mom," Chance said, starting to grin her way lazily and working up a good buzz.

"I do," she said, though when she saw the lazy grin, she pulled out her phone and sent out a text to both Elin and Annie to come watch the show. She got up and headed over to Kurt and Logan — the bottle of whiskey in her hand. "You two are spending all your time laughing and not drinking. You're slipping behind, lightweights."

Both of them stopped laughing and looked up at her for just long enough to grab their glasses and demand whatever they needed to catch up, and by the time the girls came down to see what was going on, the pool game was just down to Chance and Kurt — since K completely distracted Logan 'to make the game more fair'.

"And there are the responsible adults in the room," Annie chuckled when she made her appearance.

"Where?" Logan asked with a laugh.

"Exactly," Annie chuckled as she went to pour herself up a glass to join them.

Elin was shaking her head to herself as she watched the ridiculously awful game between Chance and Kurt — both of whom couldn't hit the ball to save their lives. "What … is the point of this one?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but your godfather's cheating, El," Chance called out with a wide grin her way.

"Of course he is," she laughed before she headed over to take Chance's cue. "Tap out; let me help."

"Oh, alright," Chance said before he simply leaned over to steal a long kiss. "But I'm winning."

"You will be," she said before she gave him a kiss in return that lasted a little longer than she'd intended — and he was grinning widely afterward. "You're so wasted." She stepped back long enough to hit a few trick shots that left Kurt with no choice but to sink four or lose outright.

Kurt shook his head at Elin and leveled a finger Chance's way. "There will be a rematch."

"When?" Elin asked. "And can I help?"

"Yes, of course, and I'll bring Kate," Kurt said with a smile her way.

Chance grinned outright and rested his chin on Elin's shoulder. "So. We won this round, El. What's next?"

"We did," she agreed. "I think we should get you to bed before you pass out on the floor."

"I'm not that bad off," he argued with a frown, though he was wrapping her up tightly.

"You're worse than you think," Elin said, shaking her head at him. "And so snuggly."

"That part's not anything new," he pointed out and kissed her cheek. "Married the most amazing girl that ever lived. Can't help it."

She was trying to keep from laughing as the three drunks in the room all burst out with an in-chorus 'awwwwwwww' followed by a burst of laughter.

"Oh, like it's any different when he's sober," Annie laughed at the three of them.

"It's a little different," K argued, though she didn't get further in her defense before Logan caught her attention with a kiss.

"Yes, well, it's time to break this up," Kurt said with a crooked kind of smile, though he didn't expand on that more than to simply teleport away to go find Kate, which had Annie laughing all over again.

"Probably best," Elin said, trying to direct Chance out of the room gently. "Okay, we have to go upstairs now," she laughed.

"Oh, okay," he said with a wide smile.

She pulled at him to get moving, and she gave Annie an apologetic sort of look. "Please take the liquor out of the room so my parents don't … you know... _die_ of alcohol poisoning?"

"Don't worry; I'll take care of it," Annie promised, laughing as she watched Elin and Chance heading out.

"You can't try to keep up with them," Elin said when they were halfway up the stairs.

"I was… okay," Chance said, shaking his head. "I didn't have _that_ much."

"I'm sure," she said, grinning at him. "You're going to have a headache tomorrow."

"Probably," he said, before he just couldn't help but steal a kiss. "In my defense, I didn't start it."

She laughed outright at him. "I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter."

"No, but I wanted to get that straight," he said, still focused on trying to sneak kisses even though she was trying to get him up the stairs.

"Chance! I promise I'll kiss you silly until you fall asleep if you can just focus on getting to our room first," Elin said with a chuckle.

"I'll hold you to that," he swore, still grinning at her as he finally let her lead him up the rest of the way.

She was giggling to herself at the grin he was wearing all the way to their room. "You're terrible."

"I am," he said. "And you married me. So — ha!" He leaned over to steal a kiss to prove his point.

She pushed him through the door and kicked it closed behind them. "Yes, I'm starting to wonder why you keep reminding me, like I'd forget that?"

"I just really, really like hearing it, Mrs. Summers," he said with a grin.

"You're hopeless, Mr. Summers."


	6. First And Last Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, romance is starting to properly shift around the second gen X-Men, but it's not always a straight line for these kids, as we've already seen. It's not going to resolve itself quickly, either.

It was long overdue for James to make good on his date with Alyssa. But after getting read the riot act for how he'd handled the Superior Rising supporter at the cafe, it was pretty clear that he had to keep it low key and not overly public, which left his options kind of slim for a first date. Still, a few back and forth texts had given him at least an _idea_. If Alyssa was game, that is. He didn't know enough about her outside of the standard rundown that all prospective romantic entanglements got, though he had to admit, his mother had been a little more thorough digging into the connections and ties that Alyssa's family had. That's what she'd told him just before she refused to let him see the intel saying some things needed to be discovered on his own. Which, James supposed had to be a good sign if she hadn't shut it down or simply handed it over.

After a lot of thought, James had his plan in place. It took some doing, but he gathered up a few things and headed out to pick Alyssa up, though he didn't tell her what he had in mind. Not without getting the chance to tell her what his restrictions were in person. But he'd told her at least to grab a coffee and to dress warmly when he met her at the cafe where he was set to pick her up.

She grinned at him widely when she saw him and waved. "Long time no see," she said.

"No kidding," he said, shaking his head. "You got your coffee? I'd like to get rolling, if you're up to something outside."

She nodded, holding up her coffee by the sleeve. "What did you have in mind?" she asked as she followed him out.

He drew in a deep breath before he gestured to the Jeep. "There's a quiet, mostly hidden lake that's good for ice skating, if you're game. I can explain on the way."

"I'm game," she assured him, still grinning as she climbed into the Jeep and tucked her hair behind her ears, looking perfectly thrilled.

He barely got the car into gear before he had to at least clear up part of what he knew had to be on her mind. "Sorry about the long stretch. It's been a little crazy."

"Yeah, I've seen it on the news," Alyssa said. "Are you okay? You really don't mind taking the time?"

"It's nice to get away from everyone, to be honest," James replied. "They get to be a little intense and in your face when there's no break. And I'm used to not really being around them much."

"That's a shame," Alyssa said. "But I get it. I haven't seen my sister in _ages_ since she graduated college."

"Must be how that works," James said with a shrug. "Before all the mess, I spent most of my time at Stark's place. Still haven't gotten cleared by Scott to go back."

"I guess it's hard to come back from something like that," she said with a frown. "But you and your sister seem close."

"She's my big sister. I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to tell her no for most things," James pointed out. "Especially since she doesn't really ask much."

"Mine's the same way," Alyssa said with a smile.

"So," James said. "I'm sure you've got something on your mind outside of siblings."

Alyssa couldn't help but smile at that. "Well, yeah… I _did_ try to see if I could spot you on the news, but … well, are you doing more background stuff, or am I not as good at scouring video as I think I am?"

"No, you're not wrong," he said, shaking his head. "I'm more on the tech side for now. Dad has to clear me for field work, and we're both in agreement that I'm not there yet." He paused and decided to simply come clean. "Control issues."

"You can't control your powers?" Alyssa asked with a frown. "I thought they were passive."

He shook his head. "I don't have control over that anyhow; it's more of a reaction problem. The thing at the cafe last time was pretty light."

"Oh." Both of her eyebrows shot up before she let her shoulders drop.

"It's the whole intolerant thing. It seems to be a pretty nasty button for me," he explained. "Probably overcompensating for what happened with the whole Apocalypse mess." He shook his head. "I'm close, but I'm not happy with my reactions yet."

"I guess it would be hard to hear that kind of thing," Alyssa said with a nod. "I mean, that's what he wanted — humans gone."

"He wanted a lot of things that aren't gonna happen," James said.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't make it easier to listen to," Alyssa said. She reached over and squeezed his arm. "And, you know, we appreciate you sticking up for us."

"Just trying to stick to how I was raised," he said, giving her a little smile before he turned down a plowed out dirt road.

"I'm sure you'll get out there soon. If the worst thing holding you back is that people who are stupid make you mad, that's just proof you've got a heart, as far as I'm concerned," Alyssa said with a shrug.

He chuckled. "You might be a little biased."

"Maybe," she said, grinning at him. "I'd love to see you back out on the team."

"It'll happen. The training with Dad helps. A lot."

"I'm really glad to hear that. It's not the same without you," Alyssa said. "I mean, it's nice to see Sying back too. You wouldn't _believe_ the following he has on my blog. It's weird."

"I believe it," James said, nodding.

"And the new dad look…" She shook her head. "Anyway, it'll be nice to see the whole team out in action. You, Krissy too…"

"Might be a while," he said before he finally found the spot he wanted. It didn't look like much, and from the road, you couldn't really see the lake except through a few tall pine trees. "And in the meantime, I'm not on heavy training with the team. So." He gestured out to where the lake was. "How about we take advantage of the ice?"

She grinned at him and let him lead her out past the Jeep. "Oh, so this is what you were doing with my shoe size."

"Broken ankles are no fun," he said with a shrug.

"It's sweet," she said. "And very hidden away."

"If you're not comfortable—"

"No, no, it's fine," she said quickly, flushing slightly pink. "I was just… observing."

"Tell me if you change your mind," James said as he handed her the skates.

"Haven't seen any reason to yet," she told him. She sat down to start strapping on the skates, still smiling to herself.

They headed out to the ice quickly enough, but as they stepped on and there were a few audible cracks, he had to ask. "Have you done this before?"

"Not on a lake, no," she admitted. "On a public rink, with my sister, yeah."

He nodded. "Ignore the cracks. They echo a little, but the ice is about eight inches thick. It'll hold up a truck — so it should be fine with us."

"Oh, good," she said. "Because I don't think I'd survive a dunk in this water."

"Yes, you would," he said with a nod.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I _hate_ cold baths."

He had to laugh. "That might be so, but you're nuts if you think my parents didn't teach us how to deal with cold weather emergencies. You'd be fine. I promise."

She couldn't stop grinning at him as she nodded. "Alright, I'll take your word for it."

The two of them spent a few hours on the ice, skating and getting to know each other a lot better, and by the time it was over, James was honestly enjoying himself. Enough so that when she lost her balance and he caught her before she could hit the ice, he had to smile at the close proximity.

"So. I might be getting ahead of myself," James said as he got her upright. "But do you think you might want to do this again?"

Alyssa blushed lightly in spite of the grin as she nodded.

"How about next Saturday if you're not too busy?" James asked, offering her his hand as they headed for the edge of the lake.

"Sounds great to me." She grinned as he held her closer to keep her steady all the way back to the Jeep.

* * *

Kari was still in shock as she sat down beside James at breakfast, staring at her coffee and looking as if she couldn't quite focus that morning.

"Who do I need to stab?" James asked, watching her carefully, keeping his outward reaction neutral.

She glanced up at him and then bit her lip. "No one," she said. "It's not…" She let out a breath and then pulled out her phone to show him her email. "I… I put one of my paintings out. On a whim. And… and …" She simply gestured at the emailed offer for him to read.

James read over the email and couldn't stop himself from allowing a little smile. "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but we already knew you were amazing. So what's the problem? You can't start at the Louvre."

She gave him a small smile at that. "I just wasn't expecting it," she admitted. "And it's… it's a substantial…"

He pushed his coffee away and held up his arms to offer her a hug. "Your call if you want to sell it," he said. "But I'm still gonna say 'Congratulations.'"

She broke into a laugh of pure disbelief before she darted over to wrap him up in the offered hug. "I'm going to take the offer," she told him once she was in the hug. "And they said… they said they'd be interested in seeing more. But I can't send them something like my painting of Kade or Krissy and Sying dancing on the ceiling!"

"No, but how many landscapes have you done?" James asked. "You've got that one with the macro flowers that you did all in pointillism."

She nodded slowly. "Well, yes, but I really want to be sending my _best_ stuff."

"So … ask the subjects," James said. "I doubt any of them would say no."

Kari nodded as she stepped back slightly, rubbing her hands over her face for a moment. "It might… maybe I could talk to Scott. Maybe we could do … maybe I could release a few paintings of the team to sort of humanize the team?" She made a face. "That's the wrong word, but … something like that."

He shrugged. "You're talking PR; that's not me, Kari."

"You're the one dating a reporter," she couldn't help but tease. "How's that going, anyway?"

"Alright, I guess," he said. "I don't know what 'normal' looks like, so I couldn't say for sure. No complaints that I've heard, though."

"Well, of course not," she teased. "She's star-struck."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Right."

"She _is_ ," Kari said, smiling up at him.

"By definition, that would require me to be more than what I _am_."

"You're an X-Man," Kari pointed out, then kissed his cheek. "That makes you a star, especially to her." She squeezed his arm. "I just hope that she sees you as more than just that."

"You make up the nicest stories," he said, shaking his head. "You should be a novelist."

"No, no, I'll leave that to my mom," Kari said. "I'm an _artist_."

"But you have such a handle on pure _fiction._ "

"You're the one with your head in the clouds."

"Says the girl walking on air," James teased. "Go on. Talk to Scott. Not like I'm going anywhere."

"Alright, but," she paused to kiss his cheek again. "Would you be okay if some of my sketches of you were in a project like that?"

"Kari, you know I won't say no if it'd help you."

She flushed slightly purple and then smiled. "If Scott says yes, would you spare me a few hours to pick out the best ones? Nothing too personal, obviously. And nothing from those early days when I sucked at shading…."

"Sure," James said, nodding. "Though I think you've got a better eye for it."

"I like having your opinion," she said.

"I already said yes," James pointed out.

"Yes, and then you played yourself down," she said, shaking her head at him. "You should stop that. It's a bad habit, and it's probably addictive."

"You act like that's going to stop," James said, tipping his chin up. "It's not. Not sorry."

"You'll never change, will you?" she said, laughing to herself before she simply kissed his cheek and teleported off in a poof of pink.

"Probably not," James said to himself before he filled up his mug again and started for the stairs.

* * *

When Howard had seen the job opening for a tech position at Xavier's, he'd honestly jumped at the opportunity, thinking that he'd get the chance to see Sadie more often if he was there.

What he hadn't realized was that the position was for David's vacated spot in Chicago.

But the thing was, even for as young as he was, it was honestly the perfect opportunity for him. He didn't want to be stuck at his dad's company from cradle to grave, and this would be nice — something to sink his teeth into before he did, eventually, take over Stark Industries from his dad.

So he took the position when it was offered to him.

Of course, that meant he'd be in Chicago, not New York, and that meant he wouldn't be able to see Sadie as much.

Now, he just had to tell her.

He went to her winter recital with flowers and a necklace to give her after her performance, and he couldn't help grinning when he saw her still in her costume when it was through. He pulled her into a kiss and handed her the flowers. "You were amazing. The best dancer out there."

"You are entirely biased," she said before she gave him a kiss. "And I'm bound to agree."

"Well, it's _true_ ," he emphasized. He let his hand rest at her waist as he grinned at her.

"I'm not going to hassle you on your opinion, handsome." She smiled his way for just a moment before at least pretending to straighten herself up. "Are you in a rush, or can you let me change?"

"Well, I kinda like the view right now, but I can wait," he said. "I wanted to take you to a rooftop dinner."

"That sounds amazing," she said with a grin. "I won't be long, I promise." She popped up on her toes to kiss him again and then headed off to get changed, reappearing a short time later with her bag over her shoulder — and wearing an amazingly appropriate dress and heels. "Ready when you are."

He grinned widely as he led her to where he had a limo waiting then got his timing just right as they were on their way to Stark Tower before he pulled out the box with the necklace. "So, I may have accepted a job offer at Xavier's."

"Oh?" she said, frowning. "I wasn't aware there was an opening."

"The one in Chicago," he said with one eye closed in a wince. "I thought it was Westchester when I applied."

"Oh," she said, her expression totally open as she thought it over.

"I decided to take it — at least for a few years," he said. "I'm getting a little tired of being 'heir to the Stark empire'. Why not help the X-Men instead for a while? You guys have alien tech and stuff to play with anyway."

She nodded her head and let out a little sigh. "So … this is a goodbye kind of thing, then? Or … is this your slick way of saying you want to see other people?"

"No," Howard said, frowning her way. "No, this is… well, yeah it's sort of a goodbye, but all things considered, it's more of a 'sorry I won't be around as much as before', not a total shut out."

She smiled demurely. "It's okay," she said. "It's a great opportunity for you."

"It is," Howard said. "But I wanted to take you out someplace nice before..."

"You always take me nice places, Howard," she said before she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

He smiled and reached over to pull her into a longer kiss. "I'm not trying to say goodbye, if you don't mind a guy who lives a few states away."

"It makes it kind of hard to do much that way, and I'm not … old enough to be that serious, honestly," she said before she let out a little sigh. "But we can play it by ear. I'm sure you'll get your socks knocked off by some little cutie in Chicago and forget all about me."

Howard didn't look convinced. "Will you save a dance or two for me when I'm in town?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," she replied with a smile. "As long as you don't forget to ask me."

He smiled at that and then nodded. "Well, there's no danger of that," he said, then pulled her into a much more serious kiss.

* * *

When Sadie got home after her recital and dinner with Howard, it was almost like someone had hit the switch on her. Her shoulders fell, and she dropped her bag at the foot of her bed before she dropped back onto it and stared up at the ceiling. This … was not how she'd expected her evening to go. And she was back a lot earlier than she'd expected, too. She looked at the clock and almost growled. There had to be something going on … it was Saturday night. And it was still a couple hours until her usual bedtime.

She changed her clothes into something decidedly less together, headed down to the game room to see what was going on, and ended up leaning in the doorway watching several games happening.

The center of attention was, obviously, Ariel, with both of her Lee aunts on either side of her playing with blocks and giggling every time either of the girls would say anything. But there were a few other games. Chance and Krissy were in an intense competition racing video games, and Chloe was absolutely wiping the floor with Sammy in chess, though she was giving Sammy plenty of good tips.

Kaleb and Kade had been cheering Krissy on in the game room, but when Kaleb saw Sadie, he teleported over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"What have I missed?" she asked, arms crossed as she continued to watch the crowd.

"Nothing much," Kaleb said with a shrug. "Ariel's been showing off the fact that she can knock herself over with her own tail."

"Is that one you showed her how to do?" Sadie asked with a muted smirk.

Kaleb laughed. "No, no, this is what happens when you have a baby who is strong enough to sit up and crawl early but a tail with the brain of a baby demon," he said. "At least, that's how Sying explains it." He pulled his arm through Sadie's. "He's got his mind made up."

"He's blaming it on that," she said.

"What about you? Aren't you supposed to be out with Howard trying to find a way around the heart monitor?"

"Oh, I _was_ out with Howard," she said. "But that's done now. No reason to work around it."

Kaleb raised his eyebrows her way. "You sound a little more disappointed than just a simple 'couldn't get past my brother's nonsense'."

"Well, we broke up. More or less," she said.

Kaleb seized her arm and teleported her someplace private, to one of the lesser used classrooms. "Are you alright?"

"Sure," she said, though it was plain to see she was anything but alright. "Just wasn't expecting it. That's all." She shrugged again, holding it when her shoulders were up by her ears.

Kaleb let out a sigh and then pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know you liked him."

"It's fine," she promised, returning the hug and even snuggling in a little bit. "He's going to go teach tech in Chicago."

"Oh, really?" Kaleb tipped his head. "That's … far."

"Which is why we're split now," she said. "I'm not going to do the long-distance thing at my age. That's just ridiculous. And he _is_ a Stark. He'll have a following before he's there a week." She shook her head. "I don't need that."

"I'm still very sorry," Kaleb said. "Clearly, he doesn't realize what a catch he had if he's so willing to lose you," he added with a little smile and kissed her hand.

"We're too young to worry about that," she said. "And it probably wouldn't have lasted long anyhow."

"Oh?"

She shoved his shoulder lightly. "Don't sound so surprised," she laughed. "Are you telling me you haven't thought the same thing?"

"Well, I admit I thought it, but my thought process was more to the jealousy side of things," he teased.

She kissed his cheek for that. "You don't have a jealous side, you sweet little Elf."

"I could pretend to," he teased. "So you could feel properly lavished with affection and attention when you're so obviously sad for your Stark romance."

She let out a little laugh. "Why don't you just help me find my brother to get this thing off?"

"Yes, no reason for it when you're not dating a Stark anymore," he teased, teleporting off with her to where he knew James would be with Kari in the art room looking through her paintings to find the best stuff to send to the art galleries.

"I need a favor," Sadie said as she made her way over and dropped down to sit across from her brother.

"What kind of favor?" James asked.

"I need you to get your tools or whatever and get this stupid bracelet off."

"Forget it," James said in a huff, which only had Sadie staring at him with her shoulders dropped.

"Come on," she said, holding her wrist toward him. "Howard and I broke up. No reason for it if I'm not dating anyone."

James looked up at her, and the two of them seemed to just stare at each other for a moment.

"So what … you need special tools or something?" Sadie asked. "Come on. Please? It looked so stupid at the recital."

He narrowed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and popped a claw to slice it off in a quick, smooth move. "If you're pulling some kind of sneaky crap, I'll put the next one around his neck. With a shock collar attached."

"So generous," Sadie deadpanned before she gave James a kiss on the cheek and headed off with Kaleb again, ignoring several details about the bracelet getting cut off. Like why it hadn't gone off and alerted anyone.

"Heaven help the next boy you date," Kaleb teased lightly as he led her to the kitchen to make some hot cocoa.

"He's terrible," she agreed.

"He does realize that you'll be sixteen in a few months, right?"

"Yes, he's just being awful," Sadie said. "He's … like that."

"Well, I can understand that." Kaleb leaned in closer to Sadie with a sparkle in his gaze. "I may be keeping an eye on _him_ around my own sister."

"He's dating the reporter girl," Sadie said with a wave. "She's all … excitable and perky. It's unnatural."

"That may be, but my sister is absolutely in love with him," Kaleb said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone. "So I still feel a bit protective."

Sadie turned to meet his gaze. "He's not going to do anything; you know that, right?"

"Yes, and you know that I'm a romantic, right?" Kaleb said. "I'd prefer it if he _tried_ something."

"Well … that'd be a while anyhow," she told him as she picked up her mug. "Is the movie room taken? I'm not ready to go to bed yet."

"You choose the movie and I'll make the popcorn?" he said with a smile. "No way would I let my best friend go alone the night of a breakup."

"Sure," she said, nodding. "What kind of movie do you feel like? Pirates or magic? Or magic pirates?"

He just started to laugh. "Yes. That."

"One jar of dirt, coming up," Sadie said as she headed for the movie room.

Kaleb chuckled to himself as he got the popcorn bowl set up and then teleported into the room, where the movie's menu screen was already up. "Were you waiting long?"

"Only all night," Sadie said offhandedly as she pulled her fuzzy blanket up. "Where have you been all evening anyhow?" she asked with her head tipped over the back of the couch.

"I actually went on a date myself," he said as he sat down beside her. "One of the girls at the school. She's pretty, and I thought it could be fun."

"And? How did it go? Did you get a kiss?"

"I could have," he said. "But I decided not to kiss her. I don't think I'll ask her out again. She was… very loud. And a little pushy. Not really my type."

"Too bad for her," she said. "You're a fuzzy, snuggly catch."

He grinned. "I am," he agreed. "But there are plenty of girls in the school, and I have a feeling I'm like my father - too dashing not to get out more."

"You'll work your way through all of them," she agreed with a nod and pulled her feet up close to herself.

"I hope to get caught up in one or two," he said with a smirk. "It would be nice to fall in love."

"Wouldn't it though?"

He smiled as he leaned back on the couch. "We'll find it someday. We have plenty of time." He smirked her way. "You more than me, but still."

"It'll probably take me a hundred years," she said dryly. "And James still won't lighten up. You just watch."

"I'll pray for you that you at least get rid of the babysitter before I'm too old to be at your wedding."

She made a little noise. "Oh, don't do that whole … plan out the wedding nonsense. If that ever happens, we're going to run away. Whoever he is."

"Who's the one planning?"

"You're talking about being at a wedding that won't happen," she pointed out.

"And you're talking about an elopement without having a groom."

"Just as an argument," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"No, no, you've made up your mind," he teased.

She shoved his shoulder playfully. "You're just arguing to argue." She took a handful of popcorn and shoved it into his face. "Let me be pushy and get you to be quiet. I know how you don't like pushy girls."

"That's not the same pushy I experienced," he teased.

"So then you like it when I force feed you popcorn? Interesting."

"You're drawing your own conclusions!"

She let out a falsely exasperated sigh. "You're going to have to pick one, Kaleb."

"What, I can't enjoy a movie with you without being force-fed?" he asked. "Or would you rather show me the same pushy as my date and try to sneak a handful of tail?"

She gave him a look and then gave him a kiss square on the mouth. "Are you done now? Or do I _need_ to grab a handful of tail?"

He grinned widely at her. "Are _you_ done?"

"Not sure where I'd go from there," she said. "Or where the line is on being awful."

Kaleb smirked and then kissed her cheek. "Oh, I'm just teasing you," he said. "Are we watching pirates or not?"

She tipped her chin his way. "You have the remote."

"You're the one pushing," he teased, though he turned the movie on anyway and rearranged the way he was sitting to lean back.

"This is _not_ me pushing," she said, shaking her head.

"Oh good. Then I'd have to leave, and I really do like this movie."

She kept her gaze forward and rebounded a piece of popcorn off of his nose. "Shhhh."

"Pushy," he teased in a whisper as he rearranged the blanket around them both.

She looked up at him for a moment and started to move away. "I don't want to pressure you. Get a lecture, I'm sure."

He laughed and snagged her with his tail to pull her back. "Oh, come snuggle with me and watch a movie. I won't bite. I promise. You're still freshly heartbroken, and you deserve a good movie night."

"Yes I do, pushy," she said quietly, snuggling into his shoulder.


	7. Firewall

Rachel was still getting used to being the headmistress at the Chicago school.

She felt a little bit like an imposter, if she was being honest. This still felt like Kitty's school, and Rachel could practically feel her ghost roaming the halls. Kitty had been the genius that could connect with other geniuses. Rachel was married to the guy who made the geniuses learn how to deal with money before they screwed up the futures they all had in store by blowing their incoming grants and patents and whatnot on stupid stuff.

It wasn't that Rachel didn't think she could run a school. She knew she could. She knew she was more than capable of helping mutant kids learn their powers and go out into the real world ready for whatever it had in store. It was the caliber of students that wasn't her specialty. She preferred being the telepathy instructor, not the headmistress.

That was why she usually had someone on hand who could talk with new students and teachers in whatever geek language they spoke. David could go on for hours with tech students. America practically had a cult following of astronomers and prospective space explorers and rocket scientists.

Which was why she wanted to give Howard Stark a chance. He was the same age as a lot of the students there, so he'd be approachable. _And_ he spoke the language.

Still, she'd expected him to be a little more excited to be there. His father was always a whirlwind of energy when he took on new projects, so Rachel had assumed Howard would be the same. Instead, he seemed almost wooden as he shook her hand and thanked her for the opportunity.

And as was her habit, she sated her curiosity as soon as the thought crossed her mind, peeking into his thoughts to see what was dragging him down when he usually took after his father in the energy department.

She should have known the problem was a girl.

Rachel shook her head and tried not to look _too_ amused when she heard how caught up Howard was in Sadie Howlett. The girls in that family were shaping up to be heartbreakers, it seemed. And Howard really was too young to think he was as in love with her as he was convinced he was.

 _Teenagers,_ Rachel thought, smirking hard.

To her credit, she managed to keep her smirk to herself as she showed Howard around, though she was in a pretty good mood all the same as she headed back to her office once he was settled in. She might have been struggling with her own issues lately, but at least she didn't have to deal with teenage-level dating anymore.

She was lazily strolling along, thinking of Bobby and how awkward _he_ had been when he'd first realized he liked her, when she heard her daughter's voice and stopped to peek in on her. Willow was still in her preteen years, and everything was dramatic lately. Rachel figured she might as well get a sneak peek at whatever Willow would be complaining about that night after dinner.

But… instead of an annoying boy or catty girl, Willow didn't seem to be talking to anyone. At all.

"Anything?" Willow asked the air as Rachel paused, her eyes narrowed, not liking the tone of her own daughter's voice. "I mean, if I could do _anything_ , I'd really like to bring back Kitty and Cody. Nothing's been the same since they died. I miss them."

Rachel frowned and stepped into the room, reaching out telepathically and finding, to her _fury_ , that the telepathic presence around her daughter was _hot_.

"Get the hell away from her," Rachel said, starting to float off the floor as she confronted the Phoenix, her eyes flashing without fire. "Willow, get behind me. _Now_."

Willow gasped but rushed to Rachel's side, recognizing her tone for what it was. The schools had been attacked too many times for Willow to question it when Rachel gave an order like _that_.

As soon as Willow moved, though, the Phoenix took material form, spreading out its wings of fire until it had nearly filled the room, looming over both of them and filling their minds with what it wanted from them.

For Willow, that meant her mind was filled with promises of how much happier her family could be if she let the Phoenix in. Cody, her uncle, would be back. Kitty, who had always been like an aunt to her, would help her with her homework again. Her mother wouldn't have to worry about holding back the Phoenix anymore. She wouldn't carry the guilt of what she'd done to James. Willow could take that burden away from her and become the next Phoenix host.

For Rachel, the promises were slightly different. The Phoenix didn't appreciate the fact that Rachel wasn't using its power as much anymore. Before, when Rachel was confident in her control, the Phoenix had been able to leech out more and more, until Rachel thought she was showing off. The Phoenix promised that Rachel could do as she'd always done. She'd never had issues before, and the thing with Apocalypse had been a special circumstance, hadn't it?

But Rachel knew better. Rachel had seen this thing destroy her family far too many times to believe it would stop taunting Willow. "No," she said out loud, the force of her response drawing Willow's attention too. "No, I won't let you _groom my daughter_ right under my nose. You're not welcome here anymore."

The Phoenix shrieked, spreading its wings wider, until the school was at risk of catching fire, but Rachel held out a hand, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she held it at bay.

"I said _no_ ," she replied, her eyes flashing not with fire but with anger. "You've done enough damage already. You nearly destroyed James and left him a _husk_. You used me to wipe someone I love clean of everything that made them a living, breathing _soul_. You would have kept going and turned everything else just as desolate if my family hadn't been there to stop me. What the hell makes you think I'd trust you again?"

In answer, the Phoenix grew slightly bigger, but instead of trying to threaten the school, all at once, it shifted its focus, surrounding Willow so that she was completely engulfed in the flames - though Rachel managed to keep them from _touching_ Willow.

"Mom!" Willow cried out, the terror apparent in her voice. The heat from the fire surrounding her had sweat pouring down her face after only a few seconds — especially since Willow and Ivy had their father's aversion to heat, albeit to differing degrees.

"I said," Rachel said, grinding out the words past her lips when she was throwing every other ounce of her willpower into keeping her daughter safe, "leave my daughter alone."

The Phoenix screamed until neither Willow nor Rachel could hear anything but the sound of the firebird, but Rachel didn't let it get any closer to Willow — and she didn't let it find any refuge in her mind, either. She had been in control for so long that she knew how to find her center, even if she'd lost it with Apocalypse.

But this was different. This was her _daughter_. There was too much on the line to lose her concentration, to lose her grip. The Phoenix had massively miscalculated. It hadn't scared Rachel away from fighting it. If anything, it had only given her exactly what she needed to find the confidence to hold it in place.

"You're not welcome here," Rachel told the Phoenix. Willow couldn't hear what her mother was saying over the sound of the Phoenix, but the Phoenix caught every word. "You're not welcome on Earth at all, actually. It's high time someone showed _you_ what it feels like to _lose_." Her hand was still thrust out in front of her, and she spread her fingers as she closed her eyes to concentrate.

She'd never attempted anything like this before.

As Willow watched with wide eyes, Rachel forced the Phoenix away from her daughter until it was small enough that it looked like a bird of prey frozen in the air in front of Rachel in mid-dive. Willow thought it looked like the Phoenix was trying to sink its fiery talons into her mother, but Rachel hadn't let it move an inch closer than she wanted it to.

Once Rachel had the firebird away from Willow, she used her other hand to help her direct her power, keeping her eyes closed as she focused on a spot far from Earth, far from _any_ planet where it might find a foothold in someone's mind again.

But it wasn't enough to strand the Phoenix in space. No, Rachel knew from experience that it would be stronger out there. So instead of simply banishing it, she summoned every last bit of strength she had for a coup de grace, banishing the Phoenix to the far corners of space while at the same time leaving it with the command to spread itself so wide and so thin that it would have trouble maintaining itself without losing its essence to the vacuum of space.

She couldn't be sure the job was entirely done, but she knew it was at least weakened and banished by the time the strain was too much as she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

* * *

The next thing Rachel was aware of was a hand on her forehead and another hand on her arm, and she let out a soft moan as she opened her eyes. Bobby was there — of course he was — along with Willow. Both of them looked worried, and Rachel could see tear tracks down her daughter's face.

"Sorry," she croaked out. She was sweaty, and her lips were cracked. She felt dehydrated and uncomfortably sticky — the result of playing with fire, she supposed.

 _It could have been much worse,_ she thought, remembering the blank landscape of James' mind, grateful that she'd managed to expel the Phoenix without pulling down that kind of catastrophe on herself. Looking at her husband and oldest daughter, she could plainly see that they couldn't weather another loss. Not so soon after everything _else_.

So, she said, "sorry," again.

"Stop saying that," Bobby said and yanked her upright so he could pull her to him with her head underneath his chin. "You're such a Summers, you know that?"

"Not sure why you expected that to change just because I agreed to your last name," she teased him, though she didn't move from where she was, instead pulling her arms around him so that she had someone solid to hang onto. She was exhausted in a way she hadn't felt very many times before in her life — and all of those had been events involving the Phoenix or something close to it.

The next thing Rachel and Bobby knew, Willow had rushed over as well and simply wrapped Rachel up in a hug from the other side, her breath hitching horribly as she tried and failed to hide how upset she was. "I'm so sorry, Mom," she said, burying her face in Rachel's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

Rachel let go of Bobby so she could turn toward Willow, pulling her tightly to her chest — or as tightly as she could manage when she felt like she had been completely drained of all her energy. "It's alright, baby," she said, running her hand through Willow's hair. "It's alright. It's not your fault."

"Do you want to clue me in here?" Bobby asked. His tone was light, but his gaze was hard. He'd been an X-Man too long not to know that something nearly-disastrous had happened, but on the other hand, he'd been an X-Man too long to think he could possibly guess what it was.

"The Phoenix was toying with the idea of a new host," Rachel said, her eyes flashing as she held Willow tighter to her.

"What." Bobby looked like he was ready to go to war. Rachel had always liked that look on him.

"It… it sounded like Mom," Willow whispered, her eyes wide, her expression horrified.

"Baby, it's not your fault," Rachel said again.

"But I knew it wasn't you," Willow said, still sounding absolutely mortified with herself. "I knew something was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it, so I kept talking to it instead of telling anyone like you _taught me_."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Phoenix had tweaked your mind a little so you wouldn't think of telling anyone," Bobby said. Willow was still hanging onto her mom, so she couldn't see that Bobby's expression was as dark as it was — and he kept his tone as light as he could so that neither Rachel nor Willow would feel any worse than they already did.

He'd been helping Summerses through their own panic since he was a teenager. He knew what to do.

"Are you sure?" Willow asked, peeking around her mom to look at her father, eyes wide and watery.

Bobby nodded. "Jean Grey was one of my best friends in the world. I knew her when she first started having Phoenix issues." He kissed Rachel now that she'd turned his way too. "And I've been married to your mom for how long now? I'm pretty sure I get how the Phoenix works, even if it never took _me_ over."

"Obviously, you were too hot to handle," Rachel said with a tired smirk.

"And obviously, _you_ must have overstretched yourself, babe," Bobby said, only half teasing. "You're the one that's too hot to handle. I'm way too cool for that wanna-be Grey."

"I sent the Phoenix to a far corner of space and spread it as thin as I could," Rachel told him, leaning against him and glad for the teasing.

Bobby nodded slowly. "Didn't want it anywhere near our family. Smart. I like it," he said. "We can celebrate the exorcism later…."

Rachel laughed. "Really?"

"We can even watch _The Exorcist_. You, me, an old horror movie…"

"You know what? That actually sounds good."

"See? I'm a genius," Bobby said, grinning as he helped both Rachel and Willow up from the floor. "But for the record? You don't have to be so dramatic to get my attention, Rach. You're _such_ a Summers."

"Oh, is _that_ where the drama comes from?" she asked dryly.

"Must be."

Rachel shook her head and then leaned in to steal a kiss. "I thought you wanted a romantic evening, and here you're comparing me to my _dad_."

"Right. What was I thinking," Bobby said, grinning and pulling her into a kiss that lasted until Willow made 'eww' noises and _loudly_ excused herself.

"You guys are so weird!" she called over her shoulder — in typical pre-teen fashion.

So, all was mostly back to normal, then.

* * *

Two time zones to the west, Tony Stark was forcing himself to take a little time and relax. It wasn't by _choice_ , either. It was out of sheer necessity. He'd been working triple time since Howard had left for Chicago to work for the Xavier Institute there - and with James still off with Logan blocking him from coming in to _work_ , Tony was trying to cover all the bases on his own in the lab.

Sure, Howard hadn't been the biggest help without James around- especially since he didn't really enjoy inventing like Tony did. Not really. But worse than that, with James not coming in to mediate, whatever inventions that Tony and Howard created between them were next to impossible to replicate because Howard was terrible about leaving notes. The kid was leaving a hole in their well-crafted system. So with both boys gone, Tony was more stressed out than he wanted to admit to.

But Pepper wasn't about to let him wallow in his stress. She made the executive decision to make him go out to the west coast - leaving Steve in charge of the team. He'd already pushed forward enough on work projects anyhow.

The impromptu vacation had just started to actually do Tony some good when an alarm went off that took Tony a few moments to even identify. And when he did realize that the alarm was for the _Phoenix_ , he couldn't quite stop himself from bursting to his feet from where he'd been sitting down watching the ocean. He rushed to his workshop to get into his system and look over the holotable to see what and where the trouble was, exactly.

Rachel had been showing better control than anyone that had hosted the Phoenix so far … and he was honestly concerned that something _else_ catastrophic had hit the X-Men out of nowhere again. But the readouts he was seeing on the holotable … well, they showed the Phoenix force was _leaving_ the planet.

Tony sat back in his chair with a frown, trying to figure out what had happened and _how_. It was a good thing he had an 'in' waiting in Chicago. With a little hum, Tony called Howard, though Howard must have been preoccupied if the way he answered the phone was any indicator.

"Dad, I told you, everything is fine, Chicago's great …"

"Glad to hear it, but that's not why I called," Tony replied, shaking his head to himself.

"Then … okay. What … what happened? Is Mom okay?"

"She's fine; we're _fine_. I just wanted to ask … is everyone there that should be there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's not some big space soiree or a Shi'ar uprising or -"

"Dad. You have to stop thinking that you're some kind of precognitive dreamer," Howard said, making it clear that he didn't appreciate Tony's passionate reactions to his vivid dreams.

"That is not even _close_ -" Tony let out a patient sigh. "Just … is Rachel there?"

"Yeah, but if you wanted to talk to her, why didn't you call her instead of me?" Howard asked.

"You're sure-"

"Dad. I saw her not five minutes ago carrying Willow piggy back and promising to make caramel corn for the movie. Seriously. Stop putting so much into your dreams."

"It wasn't ...you know what, nevermind," Tony shot back. "Forget I asked, okay?"

Howard was quiet for a long moment. "Hey, Dad?"

"What."

"I know we've talked it to death already, but … if you want to get James back full time again, you probably just have to ask. I know you're trying to give him room to breathe, but _Dad_ , even when he was freaking me out over Sadie ... I miss him, too. Talk to K. She knows how to handle them when they're all … rawr."

"That's not at _all_ why I called."

"No, but … it's still a thing. Go get my not-a-Stark brother back, huh?"

"You know, if you get him to go to Chicago, too, your mom and I will take the time to shift a few things back to Lakeshore Drive-"

"Dad."

"Just take a phone call or two-"

" _Dad._ "

"Alright," Tony said, sounding disappointed, though he was smiling to himself. "Just … tell Rachel to give me a call, would you? I have a few questions when she's not too busy. _If_ you say she's really okay."

"I'm looking right at her," Howard said. "She looks more relaxed than I've seen since I've been here."

"Alright. Then I don't want to interrupt right now. Just pass the message on, please."

"Tell Mom I said 'hi'."

"You got it. Get to work, slacker."


	8. Billy Gets It Wrong

The house in Westchester had been relatively quiet that morning. A lot of the team members were out again — it was still a busy time for the X-Men trying to keep up with the bozos preaching ignorance and hate — but on top of that, K had taken all of the littlest ones to a visit to Lisbet and Wade, who loved having them in their house, of course.

Logan was taking a little time to himself — something that had been next to impossible for him to do in a long while, all things considered. He was just thinking of heading out to the garage to get the bike ready for the predicted early spring and had been quietly drinking his coffee when Billy went by looking like he was on a mission.

He was fully in harbinger mode — floating, looking deadly serious, with his cape billowing out magically behind him even if he was barely moving. Logan pushed the coffee aside and got to his feet to try and see what was going on, since, honestly, if it was a big deal, he'd need to get involved anyhow. "Hey! Billy, what's the story?" Logan shouted out.

Billy paused to turn his way for a moment before he tipped his head. "If you don't mind going to space — Peter Quill is in trouble."

Logan frowned at that but was obviously ready to go. "What's the trouble?" he asked, even if he was sure he had an idea, considering what Scott had told him the day before about Rachel's report on the state of affairs with the Phoenix.

"He _is_ the trouble," Billy said darkly.

Logan frowned deeper as he reconsidered his course of attack. "I'll need to suit up. Wanna give me details while I do that?"

Billy looked irritated at the delay and narrowed his eyes. "Fine."

"Come on, then," Logan said, heading off at a quick pace. "What did he do now?"

"Following in his father's footsteps," Billy said as he settled into a glare.

"Yandu?"

"J'son."

At that, Logan slowed to a stop. "No way."

"I know it's hard to believe, but after Kitty…"

"I heard from him and the kids last night," Logan said. "They're fine."

"And I'm telling you - I know what I saw," Billy insisted, his hands and eyes glowing.

Logan paused, one eyebrow raised at Billy's display, then nodded once. "Alright," he said as he pushed open the door to the locker room. "Where were they?"

"Not far from Xandar," Billy said. "I could get there myself faster."

"Yeah, but I don't want you going alone," Logan said, not even arguing it as he changed quickly.

"I know. Teddy said I shouldn't be going out by myself, but he's with the team, and this can't wait."

Logan nodded and pulled the cowl down. "Alright. So you know, last night, Quill said they were on the other side of the quadrant." He held up both hands. "I'm not arguing. I'll go. I could use a good scrap, but I had to tell you what little I know."

Billy frowned his way for a long moment before he raised his hand to rub his eyes. "I can't — I can't let this stand if I'm right."

"I'm not arguin'," Logan said. "Not if Kitty's kids are involved."

"They have the same problem, you know," Billy said softly.

"So let's go fix it," Logan said.

Billy glanced at him sideways and then nodded. "Thanks," he said at last.

Logan pulled on his gloves, waiting for Billy to get them moving. And once Billy had called up the traveling spell, it was simply a matter of sitting back and letting Billy drive.

It was a few days' journey, but when they got to Xandar, Billy was both disappointed and relieved to see that there was simply no sign of Peter or the kids. Not anywhere near the planet, anyway.

Logan didn't break his serious expression, though, and was more than ready to go looking. "Where did you say they were? I'll go drag 'em out by their ears."

"I… they should be here," Billy said softly, though he had lost the full vengeful harbinger look, and his eyes and hands were no longer glowing.

Logan turned and looked around the area. "How about we grab a bite before we keep lookin'? I've got more credits than I can spend."

Billy let his shoulders drop and then nodded. "Alright. Thanks," he said in a far more subdued tone, already half embarrassed at himself for missing the mark.

"No problem," Logan replied, then put a hand on Billy's shoulder and guided him into a likely looking establishment. He got their orders handled and had a drink in his hand before he bothered to break the silence. "You okay?"

"Not really," Billy said. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"Gotta clue me in here, kid. I don't know what I can do to pull you out of it when it's off."

"I don't know either," he said. "I was so _sure_. The reality… the vision… it was so similar to our world. Kitty gone, Peter mourning, all of it."

"Hard to tell when they're so far away," Logan agreed with a nod then leaned back in his seat. "No harm, no foul."

"I can't ignore these visions when they happen, Logan," he said.

"Nope," he agreed. "And you gotta try and help if it looks bad enough."

Billy was silent for a long time. "You … thanks. You didn't have to come all the way to Xandar."

Logan gave him a look and let out his breath in a rush. "Sure, I did."

Billy nodded quietly.

"If there was any chance what you saw was what was really happenin', I had to go to help. No two ways about it," Logan said. "And since it wasn't, then we get a little break from everyone and an alien beer … or whatever the hell this is."

"I'm glad you came," Billy said at last as he leaned back in his seat. "And I'm _really_ glad Peter's not running around doing … well, let's just say it wasn't exactly like anyone could blame him for snapping. But the Shi'ar are already weakened, and he just _flattened_ the rest of them."

Logan shrugged. "No one would weep."

"As hard as this is to believe, there are innocents," Billy said. "Especially the little one…." He trailed off, his eyes narrowed as he thought he saw something else, but he wasn't _sure_...

"I know," Logan said, rumbling low and breaking Billy out of his thoughts. "Just overall, not a major loss."

Billy shook his head. "It wouldn't have stopped there, either."

"Never does," Logan agreed. "Why don't you give Quill a call, check in?" He pushed his phone across the table to Billy. "He's under 'Space Twerp'."

"Yeah, I would have never figured that out on my own with how many space boys your wife adopts," Billy teased.

"There's a bunch of 'em," Logan agreed, then tipped his drink back.

Billy smiled Logan's way and then took his advice, and called Peter up. Of course, when Peter picked up with a cheerful but slightly confused 'hello?' Billy sounded even more relieved.

"Hey, it's Billy," he said. "Wiccan."

"O-kay, hello, why are you on Logan's phone and how much trouble is there back home?"

Billy smiled and shook his head. "No, no, everything's alright. I was just calling because I — I thought I saw a vision of you in trouble."

"Well, what's the trouble? I'll try to stay out of it."

"You're not planning on being the next J'son, are you?"

" _What?_ NO. Why would I … _no. NO,_ of course not; why would I do that?"

"Okay, calm down; I just had to ask," Billy said. "In my vision, that's what you were doing."

"Alright, that's … that's pretty disturbing, admittedly. Okay. But … if you were all … you know … floaty and all that with the cape and stuff … where did you end up, if you just now figured I'm not a colossal intergalactic jackass?"

"Debatable," Logan muttered quietly, though only Billy heard him.

"Xandar," Billy said. "That's where I saw you. But you're not here, and I'm starting to think, maybe … I think I was looking at the wrong reality. Really close to our own, but if you didn't _choose_ this, we're probably safe."

"It sounds like that reality really sucks," Quill said.

"It definitely did," Billy said.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to do that. I'm just not," Quill insisted.

"Yeah, I see that now. Thanks," Billy said.

"Yeah, anytime," Quill said. "Maybe call next time you see something like that?"

"Yeah, I will," Billy said. "Thanks, Peter."

"No problem."

Logan waited until Billy had relaxed a bit before he had to tease him just a little. "So now, your biggest problem is probably gonna be explaining to your husband why we disappeared for what … few days?"

"Yeah, Teddy is going to have my head," Billy said, shaking his head with a small smile. "Sorry for taking you from K, too."

"She'll be fine," Logan said with a wry smile. "She knows how this works, and she's watchin' out for you, too. Besides … it happens." He tapped the phone again. "Might want to call and let Teddy know before another couple days pass."

"Yeah. Thanks." Billy shrugged lightly. "He'll be relieved to hear from me."

"Good Hulk," he said with a smirk. "In case you were wondering."

"You know he's not actually related to the Hulk or Gamma radiation, right?"

"I know," Logan said. "But big an' green …" He shrugged. "Helluva lot better'n what I'd come up with that goes with bein' a Skrull."

Billy shook his head as he waited for Teddy to pick up on the other end. "Just out of curiosity, what am I?"

Logan chuckled at him. "Dig around and figure it out."

"If I find out I'm in here as 'Good Magneto', I'm going to throw it at you."

He had to laugh outright at that. "Nah. That's Polaris."

Billy chuckled before Teddy picked up on the other end and he broke into a grin. "Miss me?"

"Miss you? I'm gonna murder you! Where have you been? I swear — I told you you can't go running after ghosts and—"

"Love you too, Teddy."

"Love you, Billy," was the almost automatic response. "But seriously, where are you?"

"Xandar."

"Xandar?!"

"Logan came with me," Billy said. "I just… I had to make sure that Peter Quill was alright."

There was a long pause on the other end. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine. It was a false alarm."

Teddy let out a breath that Billy could hear on the other end. "Get home soon, okay?"

"I will. Love you," Billy said before he hung up — but kept Logan's phone to look through the contacts. He had to laugh at a lot of the names there — "Purple Wrong," "Bug Boy," "Firecracker," "Elf," "Sweetheart," and "Better Summers" — but when he found "Harbinger", he knew who it was and handed it back. "Okay, you don't even need a code for your phone. No one will be able to crack it," he teased.

"Gets boring otherwise," Logan said. "Some of 'em change."

"Yeah, I can imagine when someone's on the outs with you…"

Logan gestured to Billy's drink. "Recharge, then we can head back. You've been over focused."

"Well, that's what happens when you're a harbinger," Billy said with a smirk.

"Hey. Only thing I've ever seen work to snap you out of it is K workin' her magic or Teddy kissin' you — and I can't do either of those things," Logan said before he picked up his glass again.

"Well, I married one, and the other was the reason I became the Demiurge," he said. "Pretty much the only two people that _can_."

"That and the little girl the four of us got between us," Logan added then blew out a breath. " _There's_ a phrase I never thought I'd say."

Billy couldn't help but smirk at that. "Yeah, but she's worth all the weirdness."

"Thank God she takes after her mother," Logan said, shaking his head.

"No kidding," Billy agreed, leaning back with his drink and finally relaxing. "Thanks again."

"Any time," Logan said. "It's what we do."

"I know," Billy said, sounding worn, but smiling to himself. "You've got a good record for helping everyone out regardless of the _when_ or where or timeline shifts."

"Part of the job description," Logan agreed before Billy took a moment to center himself ad focus. It was going to be a long trip back, after all, and the way home always _felt_ like it took longer than the way out.

"I'm going to sleep for a week when we get back," Billy said as his eyes and hands began to glow.


	9. Valentine's, One Year Later

On Valentine's Day morning, James was still doing his best to stay asleep in his room when there was a familiar _bamf,_ and the bed moved slightly as Kari sat down on the edge of it with two mugs of coffee in hand. She was sure to hold one out to him with a cheerful smile once he peeked an eye open to see what she wanted.

"I thought I'd catch you before anyone else did," she explained as she handed him the coffee.

"Mission accomplished," James said as he took the mug and shifted so he could take a drink. "Thanks. What makes me rate high enough to get Elfish coffee delivery?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright and offer some help if you needed it," Kari said, watching him carefully over the top of her mug. "It's Valentine's Day, and that _can't_ be easy for you."

He let out a sigh after he took a drink and set the mug on his side table before he curled up on his side. He would have preferred going back flat on his stomach, but that was his attempt at being social. To face her. "I was trying not to think about it, to be honest."

"Yeah." She let out her breath slightly and covered it with a sip.

"I know, I know. Pretty much unavoidable with all of the students jazzed about _the romance of the day_ ," James said. "But it doesn't really feel like it's been a year already."

Kari let out a longer breath than before. "I… I wanted to make sure you could spend the day doing whatever you needed to do," she said. "If you want to see her — Vanessa, I mean — I can play interference and make sure you're alone. Or _whatever_ it is you need to do. I'll keep people off your back." She glanced over at him. "I just don't want this day to be harder for you than it has to be."

James sat up to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I don't think it's going to be an issue. I already warned Alyssa that I'm not going anywhere today. Didn't even need to explain why. I'm not really in the mood to crack my carefully crafted poker face either. So." He let out a sigh and then watched her for a moment. "I don't think I need the help though. Not really. I booked the Danger Room. I've got every open space today that's not a class. So I'm gonna hit things. And wreck stuff. If you want to be sure that no one bothers me, though — why don't you take my phone?"

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It sounds like you have a plan."

"My plan is to work myself into the ground today," James said. "The programming won't let me override — and I'm not messing with it. I don't want to punish myself, just … wear myself out."

"Hey, if I was looking at one year after a bunch of horrible, I'd want to hit things too," Kari said with a small smile before she reached past him to grab his phone for herself. "I'll keep people off your back."

He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow look. "Not really possible. The booth will be unlocked. It was Dad's condition for a marathon of trashing things. But it's one of those 'look but don't engage' things."

"He's making sure you're alright."

"He's making sure I'm not doing what _he_ would," James said.

"Yeah, don't do that," Kari agreed with a small smile. "Because I need you around to be my wingman. The art world has some, um, interesting boys — and I need a double date for wingman purposes, okay?"

"That … okay," James said slowly. "One condition if we end up doing that, though. Separate cars."

"I'm alright with that," Kari promised. "I'm not trying to … I know it's hard enough getting back into dating for you. I don't want to make it worse."

"You won't; don't worry about it," James said, though his focus had gone to his hands like it so often did when he tried to talk about anything regarding Apocalypse or Vanessa. "That crash probably wouldn't have happened _at all_ if you'd been there."

Kari bit her lip and looked his way. "I ... I'm not sure what to say to that."

"You don't have to say anything. I know when I'm right."

She shook her head and hid her expression in her coffee mug, though she was pleased to hear the hidden praise. "It's been a year, James. And you're a lot better now. I hope you know — I can see how much you've improved and gotten it back."

He leaned forward just a bit. "Kari. I was a puddle last year. It's not hard to improve on that."

"I know. I'm just… trying to help," she said.

He lifted his mug. "Coffee always works better than a pep talk. Even if it doesn't do anything for me anymore."

"Yeah, something warm in the morning is always good," she said with a smile. "And I did mean it — I really want you as my wingman. It's harder to know what I'm in for on first dates with guys I meet at art showings."

"Well," James said with a nod, "we'll need a system. A simple code that's hard to misinterpret. Like …: He looked thoughtful for a moment as if he was truly weighing it out, then snapped his fingers. "Got it. If I stab him in the face … he's a jackass."

"I don't know; that might be too subtle," Kari laughed.

"You're right. I'll go for the _nethers_."

Kari grinned and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "And this is why I love you," she said with a smile. "Always looking out for me."

"That's my job, right?" James said.

"And you do it so well," she said before she got to her feet and waved at him with his phone in hand. "Have fun in the Danger Room."

"When you check in, put in a new program," James said. "Pick something interesting." He tipped his head her way. "I already know Scott will ask everyone to poke their heads in, so..."

"I'll find something that you will know is from me," she said with a smirk, her tail swaying easily behind her. "Something with a view."

"Perfect," James agreed before he finished off his mug and pulled the blanket up to his shoulders as he rolled onto his stomach to sleep a little while longer. Yes, he was trying, but it was still hard to get out of bed when there was that much weighing over his head.

* * *

Leslie Ann had been awake for a while, but she wasn't out of bed yet. However, David _was_ and he had already gotten up to shower and get ready for the day while Leslie Ann was just… tending to the orchid beside her on the nightstand. When David was done and decided enough was enough, he took her down to breakfast — with the threat to carry her if he had to.

Which was enough to get a little smirk out of her anyway.

When they got downstairs, Leslie Ann wasn't surprised to find that her Aunt Annie was elbow-deep in making all kinds of sweets.

"Can I help?" Leslie Ann asked before she had even really thought it through.

Annie glanced over her shoulder and smiled warmly. "I've already got a few cookies ready for frosting if you want to get started," she said, gesturing to the pan that was still cooling down nearby. "We can do chocolate molds later."

"I know better than to get in the middle of that," David said with a little smirk before he stole a quick kiss and slipped out as Leslie Ann started working on the icing.

Annie couldn't help but smile to herself as she sat down at the table to start icing cookies with her niece. "He's a smart boy," Annie said with a smile.

"Yeah, he is," Leslie Ann agreed as she mixed some of the dye to get just the right shade of pink. Incidentally, it was the same shade that her cheeks were at just that moment.

Annie smirked as she mixed up some red icing, doing her best to sound nonchalant. "I hope you've noticed a bit more than his intelligence," she said.

Leslie Ann shook her head at her aunt. "Aunt Annie, are you … checking up on me?"

"Just wondering how serious things are going with my sweet little niece," Annie said, resting her hand on Leslie Ann's arm.

"He's…"

"Well, if he's so very much that, then I can see why you like him," Annie teased.

Leslie Ann couldn't help but giggle. "I do like him," she said.

"I'd hope so," Annie said. "I'd hate for any niece of mine to stick around with a boy she _didn't_ like."

Leslie Ann couldn't help but shake her head at that. "Aunt Annie…"

Annie held up her hand. "I'm teasing you a bit. But I really do want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm alright," she promised as she finished icing the first pan of cookies.

"Yes, but are you _happy_?"

Leslie Ann smiled lightly as she looked up at Annie. "I am," she said. "Really. I didn't think I _could_ be after, well, after what happened. But… but having someone there when I wake up not knowing who I am… it helps. A lot."

Annie smiled to herself and went back to coloring a bowl full of icing. "That's all I want to know. And of course … if you want to make anything _special_ for later…."

Leslie Ann let out a surprised sort of laugh as she reached over to hit Annie's arm. "Are you kidding me? We've only been together a few months," she laughed. "And several of those were spent just trying to get past what happened with Apocalypse."

"Yes, I did notice that you seem to do better when you're with him," Annie said with a smile. "And not just in the mornings."

"Well, he… he's been good. Distracting," Leslie Ann said. "He knows more about technology than I could ever keep track of, and he gets so wrapped up talking about his projects."

"Is that all? A distraction?" Annie asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No, no…" Leslie Ann shook her head quickly. "I just meant that he … when I'm feeling anxious, he'll just sit with me and talk about his websites and projects, and it's kind of… soothing." She blushed and looked down again. "That sounds ridiculous. I can't even follow it half the time, but it's calming, if that makes sense."

Annie couldn't stop smiling. "Of course it does," she said. "When you're with someone you love, everything makes sense."

"It does, doesn't it?" Leslie Ann said, which only got a brighter smile out of Annie.

* * *

On Valentine's morning, Sying woke up with Ariel, deciding to let Krissy sleep in a little more. Of course, she woke up not soon after when she heard the giggling from the other room as Ariel got hold of Sying's nose and cheek and laughed herself silly.

Krissy couldn't help but smile at the scene as she came to sit down beside Sying and kissed him. "How are my two favorite people doing?" she asked.

"Wearing herself out," Sying said, tipping his head toward Ariel with a smile.

Krissy smiled and held her hands out to Ariel to snatch her up, snuggling her before she sat down to feed her. And like Sying had said, she was getting tired again, drifting back off _nearly_ to sleep after having spent most of the early morning up and playing with her dad.

Krissy sat back with the little girl in her arms, watching as Ariel pulled her tail into her mouth and started gumming it happily. "You got her all keyed up," she teased Sying when he came to sit down beside her.

"She's the one who thought my nose was hilarious," Sying defended, leaning over to kiss both of them on the cheek. But when it was obvious that Ariel still wasn't quite settling down to sleep despite how tired she was, he started to hum lightly.

Ariel's ears perked up immediately, and she stopped wrestling her tail to look up at Sying with wide eyes, which had both of her parents smiling to themselves.

"Found Dad," Krissy teased Sying in a whisper as Ariel simply locked her gaze onto him, still staring.

Sying smirked and kept humming until Krissy gently handed Ariel off to him, and he retucked her. He was still humming along to the verses, but by the time he got to the chorus, and Ariel was completely entranced, he started singing quietly. "And you can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple, but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world."

Ariel kept staring all the way through the song, and Sying kept on singing, too. Not exactly traditional lullabies, but it seemed that Ariel simply couldn't get enough of them until she finally curled up contentedly and let out a little sigh, burying her nose in her dad's shirt.

Sying and Krissy watched and waited for a while longer to be sure that she was really out before Krissy leaned over and kissed Sying's cheek. "She loves you. You know that, right?"

Sying couldn't help but smile before he kissed her right back. "Yeah, I think I got the message," he said.

"And you know I love you too, right?"

"I may have heard you mention it in passing," he said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes at him and then stole another kiss. "Come on, Elton, let's get some breakfast while your music-loving little girl is out," she said.

* * *

On the other side of the country, in LA, a lot of the kids who weren't wrapped up in romances had decided to make the holiday a day at the beach. Sand, surf, tide pools, the works.

Amadi already had a few people check on her — Valentines was also the anniversary of the day Apocalypse showed up and made everything horrible for her too, after all — but honestly, she was doing okay. Her dad's outlook helped significantly, of course. But even just seeing the ocean and the clouds so… peaceful. That was helping too.

But the peaceful quiet she'd been enjoying out on the fringes of the partying only lasted until someone noticed her out there — and it was Bashir Morales who ended up bouncing over to her with a starfish in hand.

"There's a million of these in that tidepool over there," he said with a huge grin as he held it out for her to take, and she had to cup her hands to hold the bristly creature. "I think they washed up in that last thunderstorm. Pretty cool, right?"

Amadi couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. "That's probably what happened," she agreed.

"Well, there's a bunch of them. Nadiya is on a mission to save them all and put them back in the ocean — you want to help?" Bashir asked, grinning a little wider.

"Oh, if it's a mission of mercy," Amadi teased.

Bashir grinned. "Well, you know my little sister. She wants to save the world."

"It's probably a family trait," Amadi teased.

"One starfish at a time. That's our motto," Bashir laughed before he simply grabbed Amadi's hand to take her over to where little Nadiya was very carefully scooping up starfish to put them in her sand bucket, which was filled with ocean water. One at a time, Nadiya would carry the starfish to the ocean and crouch down, gently tipping the bucket out to let the starfish down.

"I told you — she's on a mission," Bashir said, grinning.

Amadi couldn't help but smile as she crouched down beside the little girl. "Would you like some help?"

Nadiya smiled up at her. "You have to be _very careful_ ," she instructed Amadi.

"I'll be gentle," she promised.

"Amadi's probably just as good at this as you are," Bashir assured his sister. "She'll take care of them."

"Not if she hasn't done it before," Nadiya said before she stuck her tongue out at her brother.

Bashir laughed before he picked her up and put her on his shoulders. "You're just… so right. Princess of the Starfish," he declared.

"Don't forget it!" she called out then grabbed onto his head to keep her balance.

Bashir laughed brightly, the sound of his laughter just as infectious as his father's. "Race you to the tidal pool!" he called over his shoulder to Amadi.

"That's a race you'll lose," Amadi said with a grin before she simply lifted off of the ground to fly over.

"Oh, she is so cheating," Bashir said, even though he did the same thing — by using the powers he shared with his mother and using impossibly long legs to take bigger strides.

* * *

Kari still had James' phone with her after she'd headed to the Danger Room to mess with the settings and send him to a beautifully scenic place in Japan. Cherry blossoms, ninjas, everything a Howlett could want.

She was pretty pleased with herself at the grin he'd given her when she pulled that.

She couldn't help but wonder if Alyssa knew to do things like that.

Not that she was jealous. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She _was_. But she was trying hard not to be.

Still, she couldn't quite contain her curiosity, and she _did_ have James' phone. So…after fiddling with it for as long as she could manage, she glanced at the bamf on her shoulder that was nodding and the bamf on her other shoulder … who at first shook his head sternly, then broke into a smile and nodded along as well. The decision was made to the delighted cackle of her two _best_ bamf friends.

"Hello?" Alyssa said on the other end when Kari called her up. "Are you okay? I thought you were taking the day off today."

"Hi," Kari said, though she couldn't stop the smile as she heard the honest concern in Alyssa's voice. "Sorry, not James. Hello. I don't mean to alarm you, but I wanted to say um … hi, I'm Kari."

"Oh! Hi! Um … what … what's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Kari said. "I ... I actually just wanted to talk. To you." She brushed her hand through her hair as the bamfs giggled at her discomfort. "James is my best friend, and I've never gotten to meet you yet, so this is sort of the… 'what are your intentions' talk, I suppose."

"O… kay," she said, a bit drawn out. "Um … we haven't gone out too many times yet …"

"I know," Kari said quickly. "I just want to make sure ... it's just that he's been through a _lot_ , and I've seen several of my friends make bad decisions when they're hurting." She quickly added, "I'm not saying that's the case. Not … I don't think you're a bad decision, I'm just trying to give you background for why I wanted to make sure… you know. That _he's_ alright."

"He _seems_ alright," Alyssa said. "He's been very nice. And considerate, and kind … a perfect gentleman...and really, we're just … sort of getting to know each other, still. So I don't know … what I can tell you about _intentions_."

"That's fine," Kari said quickly. "I just… I don't know much about you. He's always been quiet about the girls he's dated, but he's been _more_ quiet since … well. I just don't know enough yet. And he's my best friend."

"Oh, okay, well … I'm not usually the one getting asked, but … whatever you want to know."

"I just… I guess I just want to know that he's safe with you," Kari said, though she sat down with the phone and tried to relax. "So… let's get to know each other."

"Yeah, of course," Alyssa said, sounding more than happy to assist her.

Kari smiled at that and leaned back. This was going to take a bit, but… she knew she had to do it. She wouldn't be able to sit still until she knew James was in good hands.

* * *

The afternoon party for the holiday had been amazingly sweet. Billy and Teddy stayed close — it was their anniversary after all, but they had a shared daughter to show the meaning of the holiday to, and it was an interesting family dynamic to say the least.

K and Logan were curled up together with John nearby. The little guy was thoroughly examining a white-frosted cupcake with pink and red sprinkles and had apparently come to the conclusion that something was wrong, since he scrunched up his little nose and pushed it away with one finger.

"I thought birthdays were only one time a year," Lily said as she sat between K and Billy.

"They are, sweetheart. This is Valentines," K said before she rested her hand on Lily's head.

"What's _that_?" she asked, one eye closed as she pulled a spectacular face.

"It's the day everyone celebrates Billy and Teddy's anniversary," Logan rumbled with a smirk that got a grin from the couple.

"It's a day to celebrate those you love," K corrected. " _And_ Billy and Teddy's anniversary."

Lily nodded slowly and then climbed down out of her chair to where John was trying to push the cupcake off of the edge of the table with one finger, even though he clearly hadn't thought it out very well when he'd pushed it away initially. She took his cupcake and tried to give it back to him, but John started shaking his head hard enough to rock his entire body back and forth as he drew out a long 'No-o-o-o'.

"Why don't he wanna cupcake?" Lily asked with a deeply set frown that showed too much of her father for anyone's liking.

"He doesn't like sweet things very much," Logan told her before Lily put her hands on her hips and let out a huff that blew a strand of blonde hair out of her face. She rolled her eyes at the insanity of it and then marched over to where Annie had a whole stack of sweets. She picked up a few different cookies, some chocolates … a little bit of everything … and took them all back to John, patiently explaining to him how he was missing out. She finally let out a dramatic sigh of relief when John showed some interest in one of the sugar cookies, but that was short-lived when he quickly abandoned it in favor of his juice cup. With her arms crossed, she got up once again and glared at the cupcakes until she found one she liked best, then sat across the table from the grown ups just staring at the cupcake.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?" Teddy asked when he saw the determined look on her face.

"I'm savin' this one for someone that _needs_ it," she said before she crossed her arms carefully — like she'd been watching K do. But she refused to elaborate on who it was for.

Eventually, the action had died down a bit, and the other little kids went off to watch a movie, but still, Lily waited.

The two sets of parents shared a little look, wondering between themselves what she was up to — until James came in from all of the Danger Room time he'd been logging in. She hopped off of her chair and stood in his path, holding the little cupcake and wearing a determined look. "I gotted this for you 'cause mama says today is for people you _love_."

For an instant, James' obvious sorrow showed, but only an instant. He knelt down so he could be on her level and did his best to put on a smile, though it clearly didn't reach is eyes. He took the cupcake in one hand and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead before he picked her up. "Love you too, Lil," James said with the little girl hugging him on one side and the cupcake in his free hand. "Wanna split it with me? Be my Valentine?"

She grinned up at him and nodded her head. "Uh-huh," she said, still grinning.

James looked over to his parents and Billy and Teddy. "Is it alright if I give her a little bit more sugar and take her to the movie room? I thought I heard them starting up Charlie Brown."

K and Logan were smirking his way already, perfectly pleased with James' reaction. Billy and Teddy both quickly agreed, too, with Teddy shooing them to go. Lily looked delighted, and the two of them headed off, with Lily talking up a blue streak about how silly John was about eating his sugar 'like a good kid' while Logan and K put their heads together.

As soon as the door was closed, Teddy broke into a huge grin and kissed Billy's cheek. "I think we did good with that one," he said. "She's definitely got the true meaning of the day down."

Billy couldn't help but laugh and nod his agreement. "Learned from the best," he said. "And I think I approve of her Valentine choice."

"Oh, absolutely," Teddy said. "Also something she learned from her dad. I have good taste too."

Billy smirked at that and stole a long kiss. "Yes. Yes you do."

* * *

Of course, James wasn't _clueless_. New relationship or old, he knew that the day was supposed to leave a statement of sorts, and he also knew that, because of his clearances and the fact that he wasn't able to get out, he was already at a disadvantage to make the right impression with Alyssa. She was a sweet girl, and he genuinely enjoyed being with her. Especially once she relaxed a little bit. She was fun. And _cute_. So he knew he couldn't let the day pass, even if the thought of the holiday — and the anniversary of Vanessa's death — had him on the edge of a panic attack. Not that he was saying anything to anyone, or that he needed to.

But … he also wasn't going to let Alyssa think he was blowing her off. Which is why he'd made sure that she'd gotten her gift even if she didn't get her date.

The trouble, of course, was that most every single florist was pushing red roses — and he did _not_ want to send a message that didn't line up with how he felt about things or, worse, came off like every single last-minute Romeo on the planet. So it had taken him some time to find one that had something appropriate.

He wasn't sure how in depth Alyssa would get, or if she was the kind of girl that would dig into the meanings of flowers, but considering that his father had made him learn that sort of thing one summer when he made the mistake of saying he was bored … James thought he'd apply that odd bit of knowledge. He felt pretty good about his hidden message when he had the tiny florist in town make up a bouquet of pink hydrangeas, tulips, and pink and white roses with cherry blossoms.

Instead of a deep passionate love as the traditional red roses conveyed… this was a much more concise message, if anyone paid attention. The hydrangea was for heartfelt gratitude, the roses for purity and sweetness, the tulips meant that he cared, and the cherry blossoms were for beauty and renewal. It was, _he thought_ , a lot more sincere and appropriate for a newer, blooming relationship than a dozen red roses. And it was also a complete acknowledgement of everything that he'd been working to get back to in the past year.

But typical of himself, he'd also asked that it not be delivered until later in the day, too. Just so she _could_ think he was blowing her off. And to let her know when they showed up that he truly did care.

So as it turned out, James was with the little kids, and Lily had claimed him as her personal furniture for the movie, when Alyssa's flowers were delivered. He didn't know for sure what her reaction was, since Kari had his phone, but … he couldn't have responded anyhow while Lily was leaning on him and trying to feed him candy — even going so far as to force it into his mouth with an incredible look of concentration on her face until he did what she wanted and then waited to make sure he didn't spit it out. At least until he pulled her into a hug and tickled her into settling down and finishing Charlie Brown's Valentine.

It wasn't until the movie was over that Kari teleported in. Her pink smoke swirled around her as she sat down with a smile and held up James' phone. "So, I meant to catch you when you were out of the Danger Room, but I ended up talking with Alyssa. And not only do I approve? But also? You should know that the inhuman squeal when the flowers got to her house may have broken the sound barrier. In case you wanted to know how that went." She handed the phone to him and kissed his cheek. "You are so. Sweet."

"Am not," he argued before he took a moment to scroll his missed messages and fiddle with his phone. "Just did what felt right." He paused for a moment and peeked down at Lily, who was lightly sleeping. "So, does that mean you two are seeing eye to eye?"

"It means I'm convinced my best friend isn't going to get his heart broken. I actually like her," Kari said.

"For the record, it's never my _intention_ to get heartbroken. And I hope it's not your intention either. Especially since I'll have to kill whoever would be that dumb."

Kari couldn't help but smile at him. "You take such good care of me."

"Says the girl that interrogated Alyssa." James gave her a little smirk. "Looks like a two-way street to me."

Kari flushed purple before she kissed his cheek. "Love you too," she said before she climbed onto the couch beside him and flipped the TV to a different movie.

"I think Lily's staked her claim," James said after a while, glancing down at the little blonde.

"Probably," Kari said with a smile. "Not that you mind."

"Had no choice," he said. "She gave me a cupcake. Wanted to spend time."

"It's her first Valentine's Day, right? Seems like the perfect way to spend it to me."

James shook his head. "This better not be a trend when she gets older. Much. Older. Boys."

"Well, consider her parents," Kari pointed out with a smile. "You're screwed."

"I suppose," James agreed. "Want to help me get her upstairs? I'm surprised she went to sleep with all the sugar she was eating."

"She had the best teddy bear in the world, though," Kari teased lightly before she put a hand on James' shoulder and teleported all three of them up to Lily's room. She watched as James rearranged Lily so that she was comfortable and couldn't quite stop her smile. "You really are so good with her."

"I've had some practice," James pointed out.

"Yeah, but she came from a world full of fear, and now she's getting sugar highs and snuggling her family?" Kari gestured to Lily. "Kind of impressive."

"Probably because she's got four parents," James said, closing the door behind them. "That's gotta help."

"Probably," Kari said, then smiled at him and squeezed his arm. "So. How you holding up? Danger Room and Lily snuggles helping?"

"And half a pound of sugar and chocolate. You missed that part," James said.

" _You_ ate sugar and chocolate?" Kari asked, dramatically turning his way with her hand over her heart.

He had to smirk at her, his expression almost apologetic. "Lily was pretty insistent that she share everything with her 'Valentine'. To the point of shoving it in my face."

Kari grinned, leaned forward, and kissed his cheek. "That's your weakness. You're a sucker for a pretty face."

"Genetic," he said easily.

"Oh so very," she agreed with a little laugh.

"I'm alright," he said, finally answering her question. "I think."

"Good," she said. "But if you ever stop being alright, you know where to find me."

"I don't know about that; you'll probably be harder to find what with the poofing around and all that."

She tapped him on the nose. "What good is it to have enhanced senses if you can't find pink smoke a mile away?" she teased.

"Not real useful when the smoke more or less smells the same and there are _so_ many elves and little demons."

"You're just making up excuses," she teased.

"I don't know. I don't think they're going to quit 'porting around me on purpose to screw with me until I go away."

"Well, then they're going to be doing that for forever, aren't they?" Kari said, perfectly matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, right. We'll see how that works out," James said, shaking his head.

Kari rolled her eyes at him and then grabbed him by the shoulders to pull him into a solid hug. "Do. Not. Go. Anywhere," she said, pulling him tighter with every word. "I care about you too much to lose you again, okay?"

"What if I have to?" James asked, entirely to be contrary. "Might need to make up the damage I did to Stark and stay there for a while." He tipped his head. "I … know I do. Actually."

Kari pulled back to glare at him for a moment. "Shut up, James," she said before she went back to hugging the stuffing out of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: There may be a small break in this one going out. We've been dragging our feet in putting this up as quickly as some of the others before it came out simply because there is a crossover looming and we don't want to jump the gun on that just yet. Once we get things arranged in our 'Billyverse' (see 'What Billy Saw' for details) we'll get back to something like a regular publishing schedule. Probably. Maybe. We'll see.


	10. Is That A Yes?

James and Alyssa's after-Valentines date was a little out of the ordinary for them. So far, they'd been sure to keep their time together private for his sake. Especially since there were always incidents with Superior Rising followers bumping into him with a grin or even just taking his picture from across the street — too afraid to approach. And that was just when the two of them had been meeting up to go ice skating or walking through the woods or to the park. At least while they had the snow and ice, Alyssa didn't seem to mind one bit when he'd ask her to bring herself some coffee or hot chocolate.

Which was that much of a mark of how different it was when he didn't mention anything about warm clothes or hot beverages. He'd gotten practiced at not acknowledging the people watching him from a distance — unless, of course, they didn't seem like teenagers or college kids — and he couldn't help but smile at the positively delighted grin she was wearing when they met up.

"Those flowers…" Alyssa let out a disbelieving sound before she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug and an extended 'hello' kiss. "They're gorgeous. And you had my parents in _shock,_ I tell you. My mother was in awe. And my father …" She let out a breathy laugh. "...wanted to know what you did _wrong_. He's convinced you had another date for Valentines."

James couldn't help himself when he tipped his head at that and made his expression into as close to 'busted' as he could manage. "I did have a blonde hanging off of me half the night. But I don't think it counts as cheating."

For an instant, Alyssa froze and stared at him as he took his cell out of his pocket and smiled crookedly her way as he dug up the picture he'd snapped of Lily half clutched to him in her sleep. "It was her first Valentines in this reality. X-Men problems," James told her. "No one outside of the X-Men and Avengers even knows about her yet. She's my little sister from another dimension. Her name is Lily." He shrugged, obviously trying to ease the shock that was rolling off of her. "It's complicated, but she likes me, for some reason, and it's kinda family policy not to turn down little kids, so … It's gonna happen again, I'm sure."

"I'm going to need that picture," she said finally. "To show my parents … not … not for the website. I'm not putting anything up of anyone not on the team, or not already a known to the public person."

James had to smirk a little wider at that. "I know you won't risk a kid. But sure. If it makes it easier to get out without a hassle, you can show your folks." He took a moment, right on the spot, to text her the picture and then offered her his arm to head back to the Jeep. "So, probably still not a totally 'normal' date," James said slowly.

"I didn't know what you had in mind, so I layered up," Alyssa admitted.

"Thought we'd do something totally weird and try dinner out … movie if we have time," James said, pulling a face that had her grinning.

"Yes. Very, very unorthodox," she agreed, smirking to herself as he put the Jeep into gear, and the two of them chatted all the way to the little Asian fusion place in the city that had a view of the river.

There were a few people who seemed to recognize him when they were close, but being in the city, there were fewer people that were willing to jump to conclusions like their sleepy little corner of Westchester.

But it was the first semi-normal date they'd ever had. And it was the first time that Alyssa had really gotten to do something even comparable to other dates she'd been on before. And it was still a stand out.

James had been steadily coming back to himself, and although he wasn't entirely the same person he'd been when she'd first met him, he was feeling more like himself. Enough so that the smile was back and he wanted to _try._

* * *

David wasn't too surprised to find Leslie Ann in the greenhouse when it seemed like most of the other mansion residents were outside taking advantage of the late February snowstorm. He could almost always count on finding her where it was warmer, and the greenhouse had been a sanctuary for her ever since they moved to Westchester.

"Doesn't quite feel the same without the gigantic Asgardian thing, does it?" he asked with a little smile to get her attention. She was so wrapped up in the gardenias that he didn't think she would have noticed him otherwise.

She straightened up in an instant and grinned his way. "No, but I think it's probably a better idea to leave it in Chicago. Mary Beth's kids are in love with it."

"Can't disappoint the niece and nephew," David said with a smirk before he had finally crossed the space to where she was so he could wrap her up in a hug and kiss. "You want to go out with me tonight?"

"I thought you were working on that upgrade for the Danger Room."

"I finished it earlier than I thought I would," David admitted with a shrug. "I might have also overestimated the time I thought it would take — you know, just in case I hit a snag in the code."

"And so you look like more of a genius when you do it faster than you said," Leslie Ann teased him.

"Well, a little bit of that," he said with a shrug. "But you still didn't answer my question."

She smiled at him and nodded, stealing a quick kiss. "Alright. What were you thinking?"

"I know you hate the cold, but there's a great place with a view upstate. Sort of a modernized cabin resort… thing." He shrugged. "It's got outlets and internet, so I can't call it camping. But it's a getaway."

"That's a little more than a date," she teased him.

"Call it a late Valentine's celebration, then," he said, smirking at her. "I know you weren't up to much on the day itself."

"Okay," she said, shaking her head at him when he grinned at her and stole another kiss.

"And hey, I think I've worked out the bugs in the system for keeping the plants all …" He gestured around the greenhouse. "There were a few literal bugs too. Took care of those."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, you got your hands dirty," she teased him.

"Yep," he said with a serious nod, though he was laughing too. "There's sensors in the dirt to let the system know when certain types of plants need water — you know, so when you're out with the team, you don't have to worry about who's going to water the hydrangeas."

She couldn't help but smile at him, suddenly realizing how much work must have gone into that. He'd have had to know which types of plants would need more or less water — and which ones were in what pots, for that matter. "How long have you been working on this?"

"Oh, hey, once I got the numbers crunching, it was just some basic data gathering," he said, shrugging it off quickly. "But here, let me show you how it works." He took her hand with a smile and guided her over to where there were a few tulip bulbs planted. He gently pushed back some of the dirt until he uncovered a small silverish device and then waved her over. "See? This'll monitor things, and there's a central access panel where you can turn the sensors on and off - like if you want to pick the flowers to use in your class or something."

Leslie Ann couldn't stop smiling as she let him take her through the finer points, the ways that the sensors were calibrated, all of it. Actually, she followed a lot more of it than she had expected to — she supposed spending so much time around David was starting to rub off on her.

But when he went to show her the main terminal, he frowned a bit to himself and shook his head. "No, no, come on. Don't tell me that…" He looked over at Leslie Ann and gestured to part of the wall. "Can you take a look at that panel over there and let me know what you see?"

"What am I looking for?" Leslie Ann asked as she followed his point to the wall and lifted off part of the panel, only to freeze when she found that there was a perfectly circular indentation in part of the wall. It was just big enough to hold something — a little glittering ring in rose gold.

She stared at the ring for a moment and didn't even pick it up — she just turned and almost knocked David backward as she hugged him.

"So… is that a yes?"

"Yes. For sure. Yes, obviously!" Leslie Ann grinned and then pulled him into a solid kiss. "How did you survive asking my dad?"

"Actually, once I said I wanted to marry you, I think he did a full-on about-face," David admitted with a small smile. "He just wanted me to promise I'd take care of you."

"Well, obviously," Leslie Ann said, then kissed him again. "You are too sweet, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, you should try on that ring," he said with a small little smirk.

"Oh. Yeah." Leslie Ann couldn't help grinning and almost skipped a step. When she slipped the ring onto her finger, she could barely keep from laughing before she wrapped David in another kiss. "So, are we really going away upstate?"

"Yeah, that … I was kinda thinking it would be nice to get away if you said yes and, you know, celebrate."

"You're a romantic."

"A little bit," he said, shrugging lightly.

The two of them got wrapped up for a while longer before they finally made their way over to the institute, going in through the kitchen entrance to find Annie treating Lily to some sweets.

Annie smiled their way when she saw them come in holding hands. "You two look cozy."

"We're heading upstate for the weekend," Leslie Ann explained with a smile.

"Is it because you're kissin'?" Lily asked, looking perfectly serious.

"Yes, it is," Leslie Ann said.

Lily tipped her head to her shoulder and had one eye closed as she watched the couple. "Why you gotta leave to do that?"

"We thought we'd get away together just to be alone," David said.

" _Why_?"

"Well, we want to celebrate," Leslie Ann said with a smile. "David asked me to marry him."

"Like Charlie?"

Leslie Ann nodded and laughed a bit. "Yes, but we're not going to do it so fast. We'll give my family and everyone plenty of time."

"But you're a _lot_ older than she is," Lily pointed out. "You're really, _really_ old."

David snorted but hid it as well as he could as Leslie Ann shook her head. "I'm not that old," she said. "And besides, we don't want to do things _exactly_ like Charlie and Gerry did. We want to do things our own way."

Lily shrugged and reached across the counter to grab a cookie. "Okay. If you say so."

Annie smiled and ruffled Lily's hair before she made it a point to wrap them both up in hugs. "It's about time," she said as she hugged Leslie Ann.

"Thanks, Aunt Annie."

"So, when are you plannin' on gettin' married?"

David and Leslie Ann glanced at each other. "Up to you," David said. "You're the one with the family."

"What if we did it at the end of May?" Leslie Ann asked. "After everyone's done with school - so we can have the whole family together." She smiled as she looped her arm through David's. "And that's when the lilacs are blooming."

"Hey, I'm in favor," David said with a smile.

At that, Annie let out a little laugh. "Great. I'll get started on the planning," she declared. "Leave it to me."

* * *

Logan and K had only just gotten back from their impromptu camping trip with the James and Billy from the universe where those two were dating. The two Howletts had _immediately_ disappeared into their room, quietly snickering and laughing between them all the way to clean up enough that they _looked_ like they hadn't been anywhere for such a long stretch, but as soon as they'd washed up and gotten re-dressed, the fun was interrupted by their smallest little ones. The kids didn't _know_ mom and dad had been gone, but they seemed to have sense enough to realize something was a little different - and for that, they decided the best way to cope was to pile on K and snuggle in _hard._

Which left Logan to handle bringing up something much more substantial for dinner than the pizza that was planned to compensate for Kate's cooking night. After their time camping, they _really_ didn't feel much like actually being around the crowd, either. Not when so much of that time had been spent _not_ participating in their usual camping fun.

Logan was in high spirits as he headed down to the kitchen to grab a drink _before_ he decided how to spoil his little crew, and he'd barely gotten a glass of water when Leslie Ann came through with a bright smile. "There's a look I haven't seen in too long," Logan commented.

Leslie Ann startled slightly and then regained her smile, picking up her hand to wiggle the fingers there. "Aunt Annie just got finished teasing me about the short courtship," she admitted with a much softer smile.

"Like she's got a lotta room to talk," Logan chuckled. "Can't tell me she didn't dive in head first."

"I was there. She was ready to dive in before he was," Leslie Ann said, smiling wider.

"That is how the story _always_ goes with him involved," Logan said, nodding to himself.

"Actually," Leslie Ann said, pausing and rubbing her arm, "David … surprised me."

"Good. You need surprises."

"Yeah." She let her hand fall away from her arm. "He's … he's been helping me, you know. With all of it."

"Sounds like he's makin' it his job." Logan was smirking crookedly at her. "Smart kid."

"He is," Leslie Ann agreed. "He set up a whole system in my greenhouse and everything."

"So what's the problem, kiddo?" Logan asked as he watched her carefully. "Need me to string him up and work him over?"

"No, no, definitely not," she said quickly, holding up both hands. But when Logan held her gaze, she let out her breath through her cheeks. "I don't know. I don't know if it's a good idea, the more I think about it."

Logan took a few steps to close the gap and took her by her elbow. "C'mon. Let's take a drive. Tell me what you _think_ the trouble is away from nosy Aunts and Uncles and their spies."

"Good point," she said - and smirked when she heard the unmistakable sound of a disappointed bamf.

Logan led the way to the garage, and within a few minutes, they were on the way down the road. He didn't break the silence at first, instead waiting until she settled down and started to relax. "Alright. What's goin' on?"

"I am," Leslie Ann said, looking out the window. "I'm not exactly … on solid ground lately. Better than I was, but maybe we should have a long engagement?"

"Sweetheart, if you wait until you're on solid ground, it'll never happen. Just run with it. Grab a hold of whatever happy you can and _run with it_."

She bit her lip and nodded, though she was obviously still working something over. "I didn't date for a _long_ time, you know," she said quietly. "I was kind of avoiding the whole idea."

"Yeah, been there, done that," Logan said, matching her volume. "But you got too big of a heart to keep it to yourself."

"That's what my dad says," she said, smiling a bit. "I was surprised he was so okay with the idea."

"I'm not," Logan told her. "He wants you to be _happy_."

"And I _am_ ," she swore.

"Then don't be afraid of it," He said, smiling once again.

Leslie Ann nodded. "I think," she said slowly, "maybe I'm just overthinking it?"

"There's always gonna be something that'll spook you. There's always gonna be some moron tryin' to screw things up - if not for you, then for the team or other people you care about. But if you wanna make the most of whatever time you got? You gotta live it like you're fighting someone that's tryin' to take it all away from you every minute of every day and _enjoy_ it." He nodded to himself. "So yeah, you're definitely overthinkin' it."

"I knew it," she said with a self-deprecating smile. She bit her lip. "For the record, you might wanna tell that to James."

"I have."

"Yeah, I'll bet. It's just… we sort of had the same problem. Apocalypse opened up the night Neil died. It wasn't as recent as Vanessa, but it still feels… feels like it just happened sometimes."

Logan nodded. "Kid got a nasty gut punch for sure," he said. "And it's just one of those wounds that'll never really close up right." He turned toward her for a moment as they hit a stoplight. "I know everyone tries to say it'll back off or go away, but it never leaves you. Not totally. You just gotta keep livin' anyhow."

Leslie Ann's shoulders dropped, and she let out all her breath. "Oh. Good," she breathed out. "I've been feeling like a terrible person thinking about Neil when I'm supposed to be _happy_."

Logan let out a hollow chuckle. "No. That's just that big heart we were talkin' about. You can't help but feel it anyhow. Even if you think you should be past it. Even if everyone tells you as much … if he meant something to you, it'll always be there in the back of your mind. Trust me. That … is an annoying little rabbit hole you don't wanna fixate on." He glanced at her as they headed down a different road. "If you like, I'm sure James wouldn't mind if if you joined us now and again in the morning."

"Are you sure?" Leslie Ann asked, though Logan could see some of the excitement she used to have when she first joined the team in her eyes.

"It's been helpin' him a _lot_ ," Logan said. "And I know he worries about you an' Amadi in particular."

"Yeah, well, I had a hard time getting my handle on reality back," she admitted. "And Amadi was way too young."

"Yeah. He carries a lot of guilt over that one."

"He should talk to Chloe. She's still convinced that the fight me and Amadi had to stop Sinister from taking her put her on the wrong radar. It's a thing."

"They'd just end up arguin' on who was more guilty," Logan said. "Won't help either of 'em."

"True. Last time I started down that way, Thor came to visit," Leslie Ann said. "He still hasn't let me apologize." She peered over at him. "You have that in common."

"Don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

Logan smirked to himself. "We're not real social tonight as a group, but if you wanna get away from the overly involved family reaction, you can come up by us." He turned her way. "Open invite, by the by."

"Thanks. I think I might take you up on it," she admitted. "Aunt Annie's going overboard. I think she's trying to make up for Charlie's thing."

"What else is new?" Logan laughed. "Plan on it - I'll make sure we have room for you. It'd get a laugh out of K anyhow."

"Why, because I'm hiding from cake?" Leslie Ann teased.

"Yes," Logan said. "She's in a good mood, anyhow."

"Do I want to know?" Leslie Ann asked.

"It's a long story," he admitted. "But it's good to be home."


	11. Duty Calls

Scott knew that Logan had been working with James on his control for a while now, and he had been keeping an eye on James' progress not only in training but in solo sims. And now, after months of hard work, he was pretty sure that it was time to put James back on the roster.

The problem, to his surprise, had been getting Logan to sign off on it as well. It seemed Logan wasn't quite convinced his boy was ready when Scott asked him the first time. Or the twelfth.

But finally, Logan had surprised Scott by tipping his head at the question and nodding with a "yeah, okay," that almost had Scott doing a double take.

"Alright, but you'll need to be there when I talk to him so he knows we've both signed off on it," Scott pointed out.

"Do you know what I was waitin' for?" Logan asked, turning to face him fully.

"Yes," Scott said, perfectly straight-faced. "You had a number in your head and you waited for me to reach it, because you like to screw with me."

"No," Logan said, smirking at him. "I was waitin' for him to get to a point where he wasn't ready to panic. _Outside_ of training."

"And he's there now?" Scott asked.

Logan tipped his head to the side slightly. "Most of the time, yeah. And when he's not, he's got it under wraps."

"We'll keep working with him," Scott said. "Same with the other two on the team."

"Only thing that's gonna make it better at this point is just goin' out and doin' it," Logan said. "If he actually wants to. It was Elin pushin' him last time."

"He did well on the team before, and I know he enjoyed it," Scott said. "The younger members were outright looking up to him before all this happened, and I know for a fact Chloe and Kaleb behave better around him."

"Then let's see if that's still the case," Logan said.

Scott nodded and led the way down to the War Room, where he called for James to meet with the two of them, leaning back in his chair as he waited for James to arrive.

And when he did finally show, he didn't look nearly as tense as the last time Scott had sat down with him, Elin, and Chance. "What did I do wrong now?" James had to ask.

"Nothing wrong," Scott said, shaking his head. "But it's time for you to go back on the team. You're more than ready for it."

James looked over to his father, who barely inclined his head, and then James nodded too. "Okay. So how does this work?"

"You'll be back on the junior squad, and we'll start you on a few of the more routine missions. Which, at this point, means dealing with Superior Rising and the Friends of Humanity - those calls are coming in weekly if not more."

James nodded at that. "I've been taking a different approach with the morons rising," James said. "I think it'll work out of the Danger Room better than in it."

"Alright; what's your plan?" Scott asked.

"Divide and conquer," James said easily. "Use their stupid against them. Let the team take out their leadership when the bulk of 'em get distracted."

"You want to play bait," Scott surmised, frowning his way.

"When you put it like that, it sounds bad," James said. "And not entirely accurate. I can get close enough to most of them to drop bugs to see where they meet up, and I've spent enough time with Stark that I know how to engage a group of jackasses without saying a word."

Scott watched him for a long moment before he slowly nodded. "Alright. But if they start using even your silence as tacit approval, you need to act on that. We can't let it seem like our team is approving of any of this, even quietly."

James nodded at that. "I can start out of uniform if you think it might be a problem."

"No, I just want you to be aware of the way they can use you as an image."

"Uncle Scott, I can't even go to the _coffee shop_ without these people swarming," James told him frankly.

"I know. And I'm just telling you that you need to be aware of how people interpret your actions. Intent is only half the battle if it isn't made clear."

"I won't let them control the narrative," James promised. "And I'm kind of a horrible poster child for anything anyhow."

Scott smirked at that and shook his head. "Well, alright. Then I'll let Chance and Elin know to start putting you back on the roster for assignments. Thanks, James."

"Sure. Thanks for asking fourteen thousand times."

"Oh, is that how many it was?" Scott asked dryly.

"Probably rounding down," Logan said.

"Probably," Scott agreed with a smirk before he moved around the table to pull James down at the shoulder into a quick hug.

"You're getting so squishy," James muttered to Scott.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm also getting old," he whispered right back.

"I meant the whole … creamy center is showing. Marshmallow."

Scott shook his head at that. "Typical. I hug my godson, and now I'm a marshmallow."

"You were before, but it's the reason behind it," James admitted. "Envelope openings ... any excuse."

"Uh-huh." Scott shook his head as he leaned back. "Don't you have a practice to get to?"

"I don't know," James said. "I haven't looked at the schedule yet." He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug and started to head out. "I'll try not to screw it up this time."

"Start by not _expecting_ to fail. That'll help," Scott pointed out, shaking his head at him as James disappeared around the corner. The door closed behind him with a hollow sort of click and a moment later, Logan and Scott were left staring at each other.

"How long you gonna wait before you rush down to watch 'em?" Logan asked, smirking from across the room.

"Oh, about fifteen minutes," Scott said. "I need a coffee. You?"

"You bet," Logan agreed.

* * *

When James got down to the Danger Room, the team practice was already in session, so when he stepped in, it was between sims. He watched the group from a distance slowly approaching them as they prepped for the next sim - mostly letting everyone without advanced healing catch their breath.

"Hey, James," Chance called out when he saw him.

Gerry grinned too. "Hey! I come back for the first practice as a Summers and you're back too - nice timing."

"They just sent me down," James said as Elin made her way over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, great. We're doing a 'save the mutant' sim, and it's your sister's turn to be the damsel," Chance said with a smirk. "Think you can protect her?"

James cringed. "So … next to impossible scenario; got it."

"Plan for the worst; hope for the best," Chloe said in a philosophical tone.

"Yeah, yeah, fortune cookie," Elin said. "Come on; let's get rolling on it. Maybe don't get caught up in the dramatic kiss at the rescue this time?"

"That's the best part, El," Chance called out with a grin.

"At the risk of bringing _that_ down on my head," James said. "I had a thought about how to split up the idiots in purple - after practice. I do _not_ want to screw with your little happy place."

"Much obliged," Chance said with a smirk as the sim started up, showing a group of Friends of Humanity supporters already whipped into a mob-like frenzy.

It had been a while since James had seen the team in action, but it was clear that Chloe and Kaleb were improving and working much better with the team than they had been last time he'd seen them at it up close. Though James would have been lying if he didn't know that at least part of it was that Chloe was still holding a grudge on Kaleb's behalf over how they'd tried to snatch the resident Elfling on the team.

Even Sying was doing much better - almost back up to full on his plasmoids, even if he was holding back a bit where they were concerned. But over the loud screaming of a few pink and yellow streamers, James could still hear Sying call out to him - "If I throw you, we can clear a bunch of them out."

"If you throw me, you and I are gonna have a lot of sensors to fix," James countered. "And you might need a chiropractor."

"Ha ha," Sying said, rolling his eyes. "You're forgetting who you're talking to." He seized James by the back of his jeans and simply tossed him clear over the heads of most of the Friends of Humanity creeps - so that he landed close enough to Elin that he could begin the process of 'save the mutant' while the rest of them cleared out.

"Kaleb, give them a hand out," Chance called out once he saw that James was close enough to Elin to 'assess' her while she played dead.

Kaleb smirked and nodded before he appeared by the two Howletts with a grin and a bow. "So, am I providing taxi services for two or just one today? To the hospital? Or to your husband for kisses?"

"Coffee shop," Elin said. "I'm dying here."

"Yes, that _is_ an emergency," Kaleb agreed solemnly before disappearing with her to the booth - where there was a pot of coffee she could have while the rest of the team cleared out the bad guys.

"I forgot they worked that well together," Elin admitted to Kaleb while she watched James and Chance start up a solid rhythm between them.

Kaleb looked out through the glass and then broke into a smile. "Well, _genetics_ ," he said with a shrug.

"And the whole thing where they learned together … kinda," she replied.

"You're talking to the wrong Wagner. My memories of the two of them are a lot of… James being exasperated while Chance dated my sister," Kaleb smirked.

"Yeah, you missed out on them in self defense and combat," Elin said.

"If it was anything like this?" Kaleb tipped his head toward the sim, where the bad guys simply couldn't keep up with the double team Chance and James had between them. "I'm sure it was amazing. A pair of preteen boys taking on the world."

"It was like that before James got his abilities," Elin told him.

"Well, I'm glad he's back on the team." Kaleb grinned her way and kissed her cheek. "Besides, someone needs to keep you and Chance in check," he teased.

Elin shook her head at that. "You get to be damsel next time, then," she said. "So James and I can show you how it's _supposed_ to look."

"Aww, but if that's the case, I want to be rescued by Chloe!" Kaleb laughed.

"What's wrong? Can't come up with an excuse to kiss her outside of practice?" Elin said. "And I thought you were trying to live up to your dad's rep. Shameful."

"Just because I want to kiss her during practice doesn't preclude kissing her outside of practice," he pointed out. "It just means _more kisses_."

"Kaleb … you need to cut back on the practice kisses before the dads step in," Elin said quietly. "You know it's just a matter of time."

Kaleb waved a hand. "It's not serious. I kiss Sadie and the twins too. Nothing _involved_ , obviously. It's just fun."

"Yes, but not during practice," she pointed out.

"They aren't on the team," Kaleb said. "Which reminds me - I really should start pressuring the twins on that count. They're getting better at control, and wouldn't it be nice to have more girls on the team?" he asked with an impish grin.

Elin gave him a wicked sort of a smile. "You're right. Your sisters need to step it up."

"You mean my sister who has a baby at home, my sister who is an artist quickly taking the world by storm, or my sister who _is_ a baby?"

"Are you trying to say that your sister with a baby _can't_ step up? Or that your artsy sister can't take you down? I need specifics, Kaleb."

"I'm saying they don't want to be on the team for those reasons," Kaleb said. "And besides, I do think the twins are interested. Celeste at least. Melody still has her head in the clouds talking to _E'tann_."

"Uh-huh, and speaking of head in the clouds, you're missing the fact that Miss Summers needs a hand." She barely tipped her head toward the window, through which it was apparent that Chloe had lost her footing and really did need an evac before she had to resort to totally hammering the creeps around her.

"Duty calls," Kaleb said with a grin before he teleported out of the booth to where Chloe was to sweep her up and teleport her out of danger, setting her back down on her feet gently before he stole a kiss. "Shall we get our revenge?" he asked, grinning impishly at her as he gestured with one hand to where the creeps were looking for where they had disappeared.

Chloe grinned at that before she simply dove into the fight with Kaleb, blasting creeps back with a low-power beam that still satisfyingly knocked them off of their feet while Kaleb was simply a whirl of activity, teleporting from one person to the next and grabbing weapons away from them - all while Sying and Gerry were both on the other side of things using the fact that they could run on the walls to sidestep around the big knots of people to get behind them and blast away.

Before too long, James and Chance had beaten down a large enough chunk of the crowd that the sim flickered off - their objective met, and the FoH properly fleeing. James was still standing, fists clenched and ready to hit someone - but he hadn't used his claws once during the sim, so when the holograms faded, so did almost all of the blood.

Elin waited for Kaleb to stop flirting before she had him gather up the group near Chance and James, and she didn't look irritated in the least. "I think, all things considered … this wasn't half bad. Chloe, you're doing a lot better at watching your back when you're out there on your own, and Kaleb, you were fine up until that one dude grabbed your tail. I know it's intrusive … but fourteen rapid teleports just to terrorize him might be a titch overboard?"

"Yes, because when someone grabs your body like that, self-restraint is the name of the game," Kaleb said, shaking his head. "It _hurts_."

"I didn't say not to make them pay," Elin said. "Just … do it faster."

Kaleb let out a sigh that moved his whole body as he looked toward Chloe. "No sense of the dramatic," he said, which had her shaking her head at him.

Elin turned toward Gerry and Sying and just smiled, trying to ignore Kaleb's nonsense as much as was able when he was carrying on like that. "You two were working up a good thing … and your sparkles are getting bigger, too, Sying. Have you had much time to work with it, or do we need to find your version of Twizzlers?"

"I could probably stand to have some more Jolly Ranchers," Sying said with a small smirk. "I know I need to practice more. I get caught up with Ariel, so… not that sorry about it, really."

She shook her head at that. "Honestly, as long as you're doing it without the sparkles as well as you are, I don't think anyone would really complain."

"Oh good," Sying said. "Because I wasn't going to give up Ariel time," he added with a teasing grin.

Elin shook her head and turned toward her brother and just had to smile. "We missed you."

"Don't worry; I'll whip your husband back into shape," James said, shoving Chance with one hand, though he didn't look his way.

"Oh yeah," Chance said, smirking and shaking his head. "I'm a mess."

"You really are," James said, crossing his arms. "Squishy junior."

Chance laughed as he had his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Missed you too."

James shook his head and headed over to grab a couple bottles of water. He handed one to Chance and then put his arm around his shoulders as he started to tell him about his idea for Superior Rising.

Chance listened to all of it with a little frown and a nod, though he was a little more open to the idea than Scott had been simply because he was the one being targeted most of the time with those guys. "Alright, but watch your back."

"You're so much like your dad it's painful," James muttered quietly. "He made that same face, and I'll tell you what I told him. You know I'll have an exit strategy."

"I know," Chance said, nodding slowly. "And hey, I can't control my face, alright?"

"Doesn't mean you should quit trying," James said. "You have zero poker face."

"Yeah, but I look good," Chance smirked.

"Not as good as some," James countered. "But … you try."

"James, I'm already taken, but I appreciate the protestations," Chance teased.

"Yeah, you're really not my flavor, but it's nice to know you still think about me like that. Creepy. But … kinda weird sentimental."

Chance just smirked and shook his head. "Nice to have you back, James."


	12. Bad Life Decisions

Kari and Alyssa had been texting and chatting back and forth for weeks, and it seemed that the two girls were only becoming closer as time went on. Kari was fascinated by Alyssa's website and all that went into running it, and Alyssa had given Kari a few pointers on how to deal with overly enthusiastic fan types — those that were even more enthusiastic than Alyssa herself.

Alyssa had been thrilled when Kari started dating Bradley, the guy she'd met at the art gallery when she first debuted her paintings. He was a nice guy, a couple years older than her. He wasn't really from the world Kari had grown up in, either. Sure, her mom was rich, but she had grown up in the institute and hadn't really noticed it aside from things like, well, _owning an island._ But Bradley had grown up an only child, which was why he'd been at the art gallery in the first place, looking for something to invest in with his mom.

And Alyssa loved the idea of Kari getting to get out into a world that wasn't one she'd grown up in, so she was thrilled when they found a spare weekend that they could schedule a double date.

Kari and Bradley beat the other two to the restaurant, which was one of the trendy, newest ones in the city. Bradley didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that the others were running late, either, instead wrapping Kari up in a hello kiss that had her smiling at him while her tail swayed behind her.

"You look nice," he said, smiling at her long white dress.

"So do you," she said, getting up on her toes to kiss him.

He was nice, and Kari really was interested in seeing how this turned out. After all, it was nice to get to do things like going out to private diners, skiing, just… having adventures with this boy without the pressure of anything related to the X-Men.

He was the most 'normal' guy she'd ever met, even if he wasn't normal by most standards. And Kari wondered if maybe that would be fun to try. It certainly had been so far.

Of course, when James and Alyssa showed up, it was apparent they'd simply taken their time getting there, and they were talking quietly as they made their way over, hand in hand. When they'd heard where they were meeting up with Kari, Alyssa had to get a new dress — or, as she'd chosen to do instead, borrow one from Elin. It absolutely wasn't the kind of place she was used to, though James promised it wasn't any kind of a big deal.

"Stark would take us out to places like this whenever they opened up even remotely near the city," he had told her. "They're always more hype than anything."

When they arrived, Kari teleported over to wrap them both up in a hug. "You look amazing, Alyssa," she said with a smile.

"You think so? It was last minute … I didn't really get much of a chance to fuss …"

"I really think so," Kari assured her, making sure to hug James too before she showed them where Bradley was already waiting for them.

James took Alyssa's hand, and the two of them followed in Kari's wake. In a small show of manners that had Bradley on his feet to catch up, James got Alyssa's chair for her before he very nearly did the same for Kari, too. Bradley got there first, though, to pull out her chair, and Kari couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Bradley," she said, though she was smirking James' way.

Bradley shook his head as he sat back down and then squeezed her hand tightly. "You're welcome."

"So, what's the big plan tonight?" James asked, looking perfectly at home in the fancy digs.

"After dinner, this place has a rooftop overhang where you can watch the city skyline at night," Bradley explained. He smirked over at Kari. "It's a good view."

James tipped his head slightly and turned toward Alyssa, clearly holding back something snarky and terrible. "I suppose that's a start."

"Oh, don't start," Kari said with a warning lilt to her tone and one eyebrow raised.

"I didn't," James said. "But now I kinda want to."

"Yes, because when I tell you not to do things, you should ignore me," Kari said, rolling her eyes. "Such good manners when you started out, and now…"

"It has to come out sometimes," he said back to her with a smirk.

She couldn't help the little _snerk_ sound that she made as she tried not to laugh before the waiter came to take their drink orders between them.

Things were actually going pretty well on the date, even with James' snarky commentary. The girls were clearly enjoying themselves chatting together while Bradley would occasionally catch Kari's attention to talk with her — or ask James a bit about how things were at the institute, since, after all, it wasn't like he was unrecognizable.

But it wasn't until Kari had to leave to go to the bathroom that things shifted slightly as Bradley looked between the other two at the table and then turned toward James, seemingly ignoring Alyssa altogether. "So are you, what, on some kind of outreach? Bring the reporter from the fan club?"

To his credit, James kept his expression and reaction in check as he turned toward Bradley. "Excuse me? I'm not sure I catch what you're insinuating." He tipped his head to the side quickly. "At least, I hope I'm wrong here, Bradley."

"I'm just curious on how you two ended up an item," Bradley said, still not looking toward Alyssa. "Part of the X-Men's outreach, right?"

"No," James said, though he had already decided he didn't like this guy before he'd repeated his idiotic question. "That's not how it works." He leaned forward just a bit. "I'm not sure which is more insulting — the fact that you think we're so desperate for good press that we'd set something up when the team has _never_ solicited the press for anything, or the idea that you think that they'd _whore me out to someone_ in hopes of using me somehow." The second part came out in a growl that was pretty clear.

"Hey, I thought it was outlandish too, but honestly, why else would you show up with homo inferior?"

"Apparently not that outlandish. You _honestly_ brought it up," James shot back, but at the little slur, Alyssa had reached over to take a hold of his arm, knowing that was absolutely the fast track to someone getting a beat down. James turned her way, but when he saw how taken off guard Alyssa was by Bradley's question, he only got angrier, and he whipped back toward Bradley. "Why _wouldn't_ I date a non-mutant?"

Bradley shook his head lightly as he looked between the two of them, but whatever he had to say next didn't come out as Kari came back to the table, and he was right back to smiling her way warmly as she sat down.

James schooled his features, but he couldn't hide the glint in his eyes that screamed how much he'd like to toss this idiot off the roof.

"I didn't miss the dessert orders, did I?" Kari asked as she sat down, and Bradley shook his head, still with that same false smile her way.

"No, but even if you had, I'd have made sure you got that chocolate sundae," he said, which earned a little laugh and a smile as she leaned over to kiss him.

"What do you _do_ with yourself, Bradley?" James asked in a much harder tone than he'd used all night. "Out of curiosity."

"Do?" Bradley raised an eyebrow his way. "I don't have to work, if that's what you mean. I'm studying at Yale."

"Yale," James said, nodding once. "I suppose that's not entirely worthless."

"It's Ivy League," Bradley sniffed.

"Admissions must be digging," James said under his breath before he put on a false smile of his own, though the malice was clear. "What are you studying — so you can do nothing?"

"Business," Bradley replied.

"Fitting," James said. "How long is that supposed to take? Business school. That's a bachelors, right?"

"It's a _master's_ program," Bradley said, frowning James' way.

"That _shouldn't_ take too long then," James said with a wave as he sat back. "Can't for business."

"I'll be taking over the family business when I'm finished with my schooling," Bradley said. "We sell real estate."

"Yeah, I've got a couple degrees I'm just sitting on right now," James said. "At least you'll have something to hang on the wall."

"James went to MIT," Kari said, because she couldn't quite hide how proud she was of him for that, and she couldn't stop the smile that went along with bragging on her best friend. She knew that James was giving Bradley a hard time, and in her mind, he was being a good friend to watch out for her.

"I didn't do much with _business,_ though," James said.

Bradley narrowed his eyes a bit James' way before he flagged down a waiter to get their dessert ordered. "No, I'm sure you didn't need something like that to get a uniform or codename."

James smiled a little wider at that. "Yeah, lotta lowlifes wearing uniforms and wasting a couple years on masters in engineering and physics. But … good luck. With … whatever." He held up one finger Bradley's way. "And for the record, _I don't have a code name_."

"Anymore?" Bradley asked. "This is round two on the team for you, isn't it? You had to have had one before."

It was a measure of how much James disliked this guy when he let out a little breath, met his gaze, and nodded. "That's right. Not anymore. Didn't realize you were a _fan._ "

Bradley chuckled under his breath and made a show of grinning, though he tried to blow over the fan comment. "Oh, come on now. What's wrong with the name you had before? Too juvenile to use now?" Bradley asked, which already had Kari sitting a bit back from him as she watched the back and forth with a much more cautious expression, though she wasn't expecting James to handle it like he did.

James smiled tightly, his gaze hard as he held Bradley's gaze unblinkingly. "I'm not sure that 'Death' would qualify as juvenile," James said in a perfectly conversational tone though his body language had slipped seamlessly into hyper focused and ready to kill.

Bradley froze, watching James with wider eyes than before. Kari took one look at Bradley and then at James before she got to her feet. "I don't really need a chocolate sundae. I think it's time to call it a night."

"No, let's go up to the roof," James said, not dropping his focus off of Bradley. "Someone said the view was fantastic."

" _James_ ," Kari said quietly. "Let's just leave. _Please_."

He turned her way and let out part of a breath before he nodded. "Fine. Just this once, I'll let it go." He turned to Alyssa, and his entire body language shifted to one that was much more relaxed. "Are you ready, beautiful?"

Alyssa simply nodded with a tight sort of smile as she rested her hand on his arm. "I don't feel much like dessert either," she said.

He offered her his hand and nodded. "Not here anyhow. I didn't realize this place had such low standards. Coffee — or did you just want to go home?"

"I… I think coffee would be nice," she said, just loud enough that Kari heard her too and simply teleported all three of them to the best coffee shop in Westchester.

"What happened?" Kari asked James, her eyes wide. "What's going on?"

"He's got a superiority complex on too many fronts to ignore," James said. "The egotistical spoiled rich brat thing I can handle. The treat non-mutants like scum? Not so much." He drew in a deep breath and let it out quickly. "I wasn't _really_ gonna throw him off the roof. Just wanted to make him think I would."

"What?" Kari's eyes widened as she looked toward Alyssa. "Alyssa, I'm sorry. I didn't — he's _never_ said anything like that. I've never seen — I'd _never_ date a purple-shirted menace!"

"Oh, I know … I mean, your mother isn't a mutant either. I know. _I know._ " Alyssa tried to force a little smile. "He waited until you were gone and … I don't really want to think about it."

Kari let her shoulders drop before she rushed over to hug Alyssa. "I'm _so_ sorry. I wanted this to be a fun date and — and at least let me buy the coffee. I'm so sorry!"

"Just get my Jeep to the tower," James said as he handed her the keys in his pocket. "Didn't … no. That's not true. I absolutely meant to scare the living crap out of that guy."

Kari shook her head before she wrapped him up in a hug. "Thanks," she whispered quietly.

"Happened quick or I'd have been more subtle," James swore. "Go. Do whatever it is you need to do. We'll find something else to do."

Alyssa smiled her way and gave Kari's arm a squeeze. "Coffee?"

"Coffee," Kari agreed with a nod.

Once the three of them got settled with their drinks, and Kari was sure that Alyssa was properly tucked into James' side and he was appropriately doing all he could to salvage their date, she teleported back to deal with Bradley.

Bradley was headed out for the night, looking incredibly angry with the way things had gone down. But when he saw her, he stopped — just long enough for Kari to pour the contents of her drink over his expensive shirt.

"If you _ever_ pull something like that again, I hope you get what you're asking for," she said furiously. "My mom and my sister are human — and even if they weren't, I think it's _ugly_ to act like mutants are better."

"Kari—"

"If I _never_ see you again, it'll be too soon," she said, her eyes flashing and her tail twitching with irritation. "And if I hear a word against my family, or Alyssa, or James, I'll talk to my mother — the publishing mogul — about exactly what happened here tonight and count the seconds before the story of your hate speech is in print."

Bradley stared at her, still dripping coffee, before she teleported off, leaving him standing there as she went to grab the Jeep for James and then to clear her head.

That had _not_ turned out the way she had hoped, but she did end up glad to have a few minutes alone. She was utterly _embarrassed_ at having dated a loser like that, even for a short time. Alyssa was _so nice_ , and _so good_ for James … she did not deserve to be treated like that.

Kari _had_ planned to go straight to her room to change out of her dress and go to bed after she'd teleported home from the tower, but Chelsea must have picked up on her horrible mood, because she came rushing over to her big sister with her red pigtails bouncing with every step.

"What's wrong?" Chelsea asked, looking so concerned that Kari knew she couldn't ignore it.

She let out her breath and tried to look more relaxed as she crouched down beside her sister. "Nothing. I just had a bad day, that's all."

"It's okay," Chelsea said, wrapping her little arms around Kari as best she could. "No being sad!"

Kari simply couldn't be mad when there was a tiny toddler trying to hug her better, so she simply picked up her sister and headed to her room. "Want to color with me, Chelsea?"

"Yes please!" Chelsea giggled delightedly, giving Kari a sloppy kiss on the cheek as the two sisters headed off to play.

* * *

The next morning, it was almost a full reversal of things from a few months previous when James found his way to Kari's room with a couple cups of coffee. "Hey, Frida Kahlo. I growled down three demons to bring you coffee and make sure you're alright," he told her, setting the mug down on her bedside stand and then taking a seat at her desk. "You okay?"

Kari couldn't help but smile at him with her knees drawn up underneath her as she took the coffee. "Mortified more than anything," she admitted.

"Why?" he asked, frowning deeply. "You couldn't have known how stupid he was … I mean.. The aspirations to get a business degree were kind of a tip-off, but still. There _are_ legitimate businessmen that aren't entirely full of themselves."

She laughed quietly and nodded. "I just… I'm mortified that my date was so horrible to Alyssa. I feel like I should have known, but I was _clueless_."

"You know, it's not the first time she's had to listen to that crap while going out with me," James told her. "Just caught her off-guard."

"Yes, but she should be safe on a double date with _friends_."

He sighed heavily and gestured with one hand. "You can't control someone like that. Especially if you don't know that's what's in their head." James paused and frowned a little deeper. "Charlie was much better at this kind of thing."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm such a lackluster double date," Kari said with a small smirk.

"Oh, _you_ weren't lackluster at all," James assured her.

Kari smiled into her coffee mug and then let out a breath. "I just really hoped I could put myself out there with this guy," she said quietly.

"Why this one?" he asked with a little frown.

"Because everyone I've liked in Westchester either isn't interested or… didn't work out," she said. "The dating pool is only so big here."

"I'm well aware," he agreed. "Maybe you should go with me to the lab. Tony'll set you up with someone that's not nearly that stupid as leisure business moron."

"Maybe," Kari said with a small smile. She paused and then had to ask, "Did you really fight off three bamfs to get in here?"

"They hate me, Kari," he said flatly.

"They'll get over it," she said. "Eventually."

He waved it off. "I don't even care if they do or not. Doesn't matter to anyone that I feel like trash about it. And I don't blame them for hating me. I earned it."

"They'll have to get over it, since I don't plan to stop having you in my life," Kari pointed out. "They think I'm making horrible decisions, by the way."

"Since when are demons the best consciences?"

"Fair point," Kari laughed. She sat up a little better so she could reach him to give his arm a squeeze. "You are the best. You know that, right?"

"I'm not. But I'm also not going to let you be clueless over the kind of person chasing after you," he replied. "Besides, the tables are about to be turned anyhow. I'll be giving you a post-mortem pretty soon." He leaned forward and curled up his lip slightly. "Alyssa's parents have been pushing to meet me. I'm sure it'll be the beginning of the end."

Kari's ears perked up. "Really? That's great, isn't it?"

He gestured with both arms. "You tell me. Last girlfriend I had was an orphan, and every girl I've kissed or danced with for too long _here_... well, their parents gave me the death glare. So."

"I've only ever dated people whose parents I already knew. So unless you're asking me to tell you about how Billy and Teddy showered me with affection while I was a thing with Harry…"

"I don't think that's ever going to be the case," James said in a monotone.

"Well, her sister's a mutant, and she's a huge X-Men fan. I'm sure they won't hate you," Kari reasoned.

"You're wildly optimistic," James said as he got to his feet, then sighed heavily and looked over his shoulder for an excuse to end the conversation. "Anyhow. I just had to make sure that idiot didn't screw you up. I'd _hate_ for something awful to happen to him."

Kari couldn't help but laugh at him and the tone he'd taken. "Oh, yes, I'm sure you'd be broken up about it," she said before she pulled her legs over the side of the bed to get to her feet as well, set aside the coffee, and threw her arms around him in a hug. "You're amazing. Thanks for taking such good care of me."

"Two-way street, remember?" James said before he picked her up off the ground in a bear hug. "Got your back."


	13. Family Matters

Alyssa's parents had invited James to a Sunday dinner to get to know him — which was not something that he had ever experienced before with other girls he'd dated. As far as advice on how to approach them … there wasn't exactly anyone he could ask about what to expect, since for the most part, everyone in Westchester had been dating within the school — or kids with no parents.

Instead, he listened to his mother's advice, and he started out the visit on the right foot with Mrs. Fletcher positively enchanted by the fact that he had brought her flowers.

"These will look great on our dining room table," she said.

James gave her a muted smile as Alyssa pulled him inside and tried to help set the tone of things. "Mom, Dad, this is James Howlett. James, this is my Mom and Dad - and that's Kelly, my sister," she added, gesturing to the older girl who had just finished setting the table. She looked a lot like Alyssa, but with pointed ears and teeth when she smiled.

"Nice to meet you," James said, offering his hand to Alyssa's father. "Sorry it's taken so long to make arrangements."

"It's nice to meet you, finally," Mr. Fletcher said. "We've heard a lot about you."

"The good stuff," Alyssa assured him.

"That's a nice change of pace," James said quietly before he looked between the three of them. "Alyssa has only says good things about _everyone_. It's clear she thinks the world of you by the way she brags about everyone — when she's not talking about college. Of course." He couldn't help but give Alyssa a fond sort of smile, which had her blushing lightly.

"She'll be the _good_ J. Jonah Jameson," Kelly said with a smirk that showed her teeth at the corner of her lips. "Excitable, but in a good way."

"It'll be nice to see the morning news without watching someone ready to have a stroke," James said, smirking Kelly's way.

"I mean, that Nolan kid on CNN is doing pretty well, but my sister will be better," Kelly said.

"He _tries_ ," James said as diplomatically as he could. He _still_ wanted to get a hold of Nolan for five minutes considering how things had ended between him and Elin.

"And what about you?" Mrs. Fletcher asked. "Alyssa told us you're back on the team."

"Yes," James said. "There was a void that needed to be filled — happens every time someone changes schools or teams — this time it was a marriage and a baby."

"Those are pretty happy occasions," Mr. Fletcher said.

James nodded. "No one's complaining about Ariel, that's for sure."

"James is her godfather," Alyssa said with a smile. "He's adorable with her."

"You must be very proud," Mrs. Fletcher said, smiling wider since she'd seen the pictures of James with Lily and thought adorable was an apt description.

"It's hard not to like that little girl. Her dad is family and her mother is a good friend. We're a pretty tight-knit group," James said with a little smirk.

The Fletchers shared little smiles at that as the group of them sat down to the dinner table, and the conversation continued much like that — mostly filled with getting-to-know-you questions on both sides. Mr. Fletcher was a consultant, Mrs. Fletcher was a lawyer, and Kelly was working on her master's to be a CFO.

They seemed a little surprised to find that James had a standing fellowship with Stark Industries since the age of fourteen — though once he explained how invested Tony had been in getting him the education he wanted to see him with — and into MIT, along with the masters degrees he already had under his belt and the doctorate he was considering finishing, it put a little different spin on things, and made a lot of things they'd seen in the news make more sense.

"So, do you run the tech side of things on the team?" Kelly asked, genuinely interested.

"Sometimes. I try not to," James answered. "If something needs improvement, I'll do it, but I'm really not _built_ for staying in a lab all the time."

Kelly nodded. "Not everyone's made for it," she said. "Alyssa couldn't work in an office, right, Lys?" she teased her sister.

"I'd die of boredom," Alyssa agreed fervently.

James smiled her way. "That's how it was working with Stark for the first couple years. Fun at first — but after a while … you fix everything that needs it then run out of things to do that are constructive."

"So, it's back to the X-Men," Kelly said, grinning her pointed smile. "That must be amazing."

"It's what I know best," James said. "And it helps me focus when I do get into the lab."

"I can't imagine growing up with the X-Men. That must have been a totally unique experience," Kelly said.

James gave her a little smile. "I … really don't have anything to compare it to," he admitted. "But I think it's the way to go."

"I'll take accounting, thanks," she said, shaking her head at him. "Little bit safer."

"Definitely," James said. "But someone's gotta do it."

"As long as you're doing what you love," Mrs. Fletcher said.

Alyssa beamed as she nodded along, obviously pleased that things were going so well with her family, even if James seemed surprised by _how_ well it was going. But by the time dinner was over, it was clear that the Fletchers were at least happy for Alyssa and glad to see that the boy wasn't anything like the press had painted him to be, even if they weren't quite as excitable as she was over her new boyfriend.

When the night was over, James made his way back to the institute in a little bit of a daze. He was utterly convinced that it couldn't be that easy. Nothing was that easy.

"You look like you've been hit by a truck," Chance said when he saw James come in. "You alright?"

"Just waiting for something to blow up, that's all," James said before he ran his hand over his face and then through his hair. "As things tend to do." He looked Chance over for a moment with a frown. "What are you doing, anyhow?"

Chance held up his water bottle and shook it. "Taking a break. Your sister and I were sparring and I can't keep up with her. Never will be able to."

James had to smirk at that. "Good to know your limits, big guy."

"Yeah, well, what's blowing up with you, though? I thought things were going well."

"Nothing yet," James said. "Just got back from meeting Alyssa's family. I expected _something_ to go wrong."

"And it didn't? That's great, right?"

James let out a breath of a laugh and gestured openly with both arms. "I'm the one used to the world ending around every corner. I don't know what to tell you. They were nice. It was quiet. I don't know what to do with that."

"Would you have preferred it if something _did_ go wrong?" Chance asked with one eyebrow raised.

"No, but I probably would have at least had a chance to process it," James said flatly. "Don't worry about it. Just my paranoid PTSD head."

Chance smirked. "Need a hug? Someone told me one time that helps."

"I don't think hugging me will help you keep up with Elin," James said with a raised eyebrow.

Chance chuckled at that. "No, but it might help you, you goon."

"If you want a hug, I'm sure you just have to wait for my sister to come by."

Chance rolled his eyes at that before he got up and pulled James into a hug anyway. "Listen here, brother mine," he said with a smirk. "It's a big brother prerogative, okay?"

"Yeah? You got some stirring life advice for me?" James asked, though he didn't push Chance back.

"Yeah. Stop overthinking it when things go _well_. Sometimes, life _is_ nice," Chance said with a smirk.

"Only for those that marry _into_ the family, goober," James said.

"Yeah, no, sorry, you can't marry Chloe. That's weird," Chance shot right back.

"Oh, no … no no no, you misunderstand. No," james said, shaking his head. "That's … eeew. She's like a little sister."

"Hey, you're the one that said marrying into the family was a key to happiness somehow…"

"Marrying into _my_ family, ya lunatic."

Chance just smirked. "So, being around your family makes people happy? Huh. Weird."

"Yeah, Sucks it right out of us though. Vampire."

"Explains why the family liked you, though. Makes 'em happy," Chance pointed out, still smirking.

"You're a terrible person, Summers," James said.

"I'm a delight, and you know it," Chance said with a grin before he couldn't help but mess up James' hair while he was at it.

"Hey, do me a favor would you?" James asked as he started to walk backwards away from him.

Chance grinned. "Whatcha need?"

"For you to _not_ give my sister a stroke. I know you like to rile her …. But come on."

Chance gestured to his face. "I have told you repeatedly that this is just how my face is, James. She's the one that married it."

"I didn't say a thing about your face, big brother." James shrugged at him and turned to leave, refusing to explain anything further.

Chance just shook his head to himself. "Sure you didn't," he said, though he was smirking before he drained the rest of his water bottle and headed back down to catch up with Elin again.


	14. Impressionable X-Ladies

It had been a year since Apocalypse had turned Kitty's own powers against her - and for the most part, the X-Men were planning to mark the anniversary quietly, in their own ways. None of them had been expecting the _Milano_ to show up. They knew it was a possibility, but they had assumed that the Quill family would honor the day privately.

Logan and Kurt were incredibly quiet even in the days leading up to it, and they showed up with their families to the low-key memorial. Kitty's closest friends were all grouped up in one knot or another, quietly mourning their loss. Ororo had completed the trio with Kurt and Logan, and the three of them were sharing stories, though there were a lot of looks from their friends watching out for Logan and Kurt, so Ororo was sure to keep them both within arms' reach.

The Quill kids had both surrounded K, since Logan was with Kurt and Ororo. They had both leaned their heads on her shoulders as they quietly told her all about what they'd been up to in space. Both of them had shot up in height, so they had easily outstripped K, but they still wanted to snuggle with her like when they were smaller.

"Can I show you something cool, Grammy K?" Jayce asked in a whisper, since everyone else was talking in low tones if they were talking at all.

"Well, you can try," K replied, bumping her shoulder with his.

Jayce grinned and pulled a little communication device out of his pocket, looking exceedingly proud of himself. "I'm going to be a Guardian," he told her in a whisper. "Just like my mom and dad were."

"That's excellent," she told him with a grin.

He grinned and pocketed the little device. "Gamora said it's about time there was some fresh blood anyway," he admitted.

"She's not wrong about that," K said before she pulled him closer with one arm. "So … how long before you're runnin' the place?"

Jayce broke into a huge grin. "Well, _I_ say by November, when I'm seventeen, but Nina thinks it'll take a little longer."

"Might have to split the difference," she said with a nod.

"I think he could do it faster if he didn't get such a fat head," Nina told K with a troublemaking smile.

"He'll need to keep the captain's chair warm for you in the interim," K told her quietly.

She grinned wider. "Oh yeah. I could definitely do it," she agreed.

"Just a matter of time, right?"

Nina nearly laughed before Jayce leaned over with a slightly more serious look than before. "Do you think Celeste would - do you think she'd date a Guardian?" he asked quietly. "I haven't told her yet."

"I don't see why not," K said. "She is half alien."

"Yeah, true," Jayce said, looking toward where the Lee twins were playing with Ariel before he took a deep breath, nodded to himself, and then got up to go talk to her.

Nina started to giggle as she watched her brother leave. "He's been emailing her once a week every week," she told K. "He checks for new messages _every day_."

"Just once a day?" K asked with a frown.

"Well, there is kind of a really big time difference," Nina said.

"Huh," K said, frowning slightly. "Just figured he'd be all … anxious."

"My brother doesn't really _do_ anxious," Nina pointed out. "I mean, he checks more when it's been more than, like, three days, but he doesn't get all… _twisted_."

"That you're aware of," K pointed out.

Nina shrugged. "I'm not responsible for him," she said. "Besides, I have better things to do. Rocket taught me how to take out a cruiser with a few charges and some wires."

"You needed a furball to show you that?" K asked with a scoffing tone. "It's like you've never spent time with me at all."

She grinned at her. "To be fair, I was in Chicago for a long time."

"Not my fault," she replied before she pulled her closer to kiss her forehead.

Nina smiled sedately and snuggled in. "I missed you, Grammy K."

"Missed you too," she replied. "Do you have any idea how much you're favoring your mother as you grow up, though? At all?"

Nina looked down at herself and then shook her head. "Not really…"

"Then you might want to take a little time wandering the halls and looking at old photos," K told her quietly, tucking a stray curl behind Nina's ear.

"Maybe I will," Nina said, then frowned a bit before she rested her head on K's upper arm. "It doesn't seem like a year has gone by already, you know? I keep hoping she'll come out of a wall or something. I mean … the way I remember her, she was always just my mom. And Dad doesn't really talk about her unless we wait until he's in one of those moods - and we try to keep him from getting too deep in those moods."

K frowned and laced her fingers with Nina's. "You know, sweetheart, if you _want_ to talk about her, or hear stories…" She looked past Nina with a significant expression until Nina turned too, so that she was facing Logan, Kurt, and Ororo. "... go ask them. Not a one of them would deny you, and they'd be happy to tell you what she was like when she was younger."

Nina nodded, kissed K's cheek, and then headed toward where the older X-Men were gathered. She was almost bouncing when she made her way over, though she took a wonky step on one of John's toys and ended up going straight through the coffee table on her way to Logan, more or less toppling into him and then looking up with an embarrassed smile. "Oops."

He helped her to her feet properly but was openly staring at her. "How long have you been doin' that, Punkin'?"

"Oh, well… I thought I did it earlier, but Rocket leaves bits and pieces everywhere, so I thought I might have just been clumsy," she admitted, still looking sheepish.

He let out a little breath and pulled her into a tight bear hug. "You're just like your mother."

Nina relaxed into the hug and simply snuggled in a little better. "Really? Grammy K said the same thing when I was talking to her. She said you had stories about Mom if I asked."

Logan smirked, though he was doing his level best to keep his tone even. "Yeah, _really_. She was trippin' over her own feet every time she grew half an inch."

"Do you think I'll do that?" Nina asked, making a face. "Jayce will never stop teasing me."

"He's got no room to talk," Logan promised. "But if you want stories … 'Ro an' Kurt are just gettin' goin'. Stick around."

Nina smiled at that and made herself at home in the seat between Logan and Ororo, who couldn't stop the smile as Nina settled in.

The interaction hadn't gone unnoticed by the others at the memorial, though it was Peter Quill who was the most affected by it. He ducked aside for a moment of privacy to try and get a better hold of himself, seeing as watching Nina and Logan was just… a little _too_ familiar.

"It does get easier, you know," Scott said when he found Peter half bent over. "It doesn't go away, but eventually, it doesn't sting quite so hard. I still see Jean in Rachel. But it does get easier."

Peter looked up at Scott for a moment before he shook his head. "Yeah."

"Did you know she was phasing?" Scott asked, leaning back slightly with his arms crossed as he watched Peter.

Peter shook his head. "That's news to me."

"Well, congratulations. It looks like both of them took after Kitty," Scott said with a little smirk.

"They got the good end of the deal," Peter agreed, matching Scott's smirk, though the lines of stress were etched around his eyes.

"I hope you're ready to deal with two of them," Scott couldn't help but tease.

"Ah…."

Scott smirked. "You know we'll help where we can," he said.

"Probably gonna need it," Peter admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced over his shoulder to where Nina was all but curled into Logan's side. "Think we could extend our stay for a while? Probably safer if she learns on the ground, not in the vacuum of space, you know?"

Scott didn't try to stop his smile. " _Absolutely_. Take all the time you need; we'd love to have you here."

Peter nodded at that before he made his way over to find some of the younger kids to play with and take his mind off of things, letting Jayce flirt with Celeste and Nina listen to stories in peace.

* * *

When April rolled around, so did Elin's birthday. And Chance decided to mark the occasion by waking Elin up with little kisses after he brought up some coffee and breakfast. "Morning, gorgeous."

"You're in a good mood," she said before she even bothered to open her eyes.

"Any excuse to spoil my girl," Chance said, still smiling as he climbed in beside her.

"Good morning to you too."

"Okay then. Good morning. You're stunning and amazing and _twenty_ ," he teased as he started to pick up with the kisses a bit.

She had to smile at that. "What's that got to do with anything? Too old for you suddenly?"

He grinned as he picked his head up to look at her. "Well, you're _twenty_ …" he said, the smile turning a little more impish before he simply kissed her into the pillows. When she still wasn't quiet getting his tease, he had to laugh. "Okay, sweetie, I'm trying to celebrate the end of the waiting period," he teased. "And you're missing the point."

But on hearing _that,_ she finally got it and flat pulled back from him. "What." Her tone was almost dead as she stared back at him.

Chance pulled back too, and when he saw the pale sort of look she was wearing, he shook his head. "Elin. I'm teasing. I clearly misread that, sorry. I was just going to tease you into fooling around for the sake of 'trying' just to be… I dunno. Funny."

She stared back at him as if he'd sprouted an extra head until finally she closed her eyes and shook her head. "You think that's a _joke_?" .

He let out a breath and then gently kissed her cheek. "Forget it. Happy birthday, El. I made you breakfast," he said softly.

She pushed herself up a bit until she could turn on her side to face him. "You …."

"It was poorly thought out," he said. "My bad. Sorry. Let's start the day over, huh?"

"It was poorly thought out because you're _serious._ " She shook her head slowly at him but then leaned forward to give him a kiss. "I love you. Even when you're being a scary, scary Summers."

"I swear I didn't mean to scare you," he said, leaning in for another kiss and looking properly sheepish.

"Sure, that's what you say now … big bad, scary, _Summers_."

He picked his head up a bit to give her a crooked sort of smile. "So… not yet father material?" he teased.

She tipped her head to the side and then smacked him with her pillow. "You'll know."

"I'm sure you'll let me in on it," he said. "Takes two. I'll be around for _that_ much, right?" he couldn't help but tease.

"We'll see," she said with a laugh, clearly throwing it back at him, finally.

"If we end up with a blonde, I'm going to murder my brother-in-law," he said with a pretended stern look, glad that at last they were moving into the teasing he'd intended from the start.

She gave him another long kiss and then pulled back as if something had just occurred to her. "What about a redhead?"

"If that happens, I'm gonna be convinced Jean sent me back with Grey DNA," he teased.

"You're crazy," she said, though she'd shifted to snuggle back in. "That'd be the only way possible anyhow."

He grinned and returned to kissing her like he'd started out doing. "But seriously, happy birthday."

"Thanks," she said in a breath, trying to move past it when she saw how much he was deflating already. She didn't realize he was in that much of a rush … she was just trying to _live -_ and she knew she wasn't ready for kids of their own, even if she was happy being married to him. It was just too fast for her. "Even if you like to scare the life out of me."

"Keeping up with my scary wife," he teased.

She shook her head at that. "No, I don't think I've ever scared you like that."

"True, but I could never sneak up and surprise you," he pointed out. "To each their own."

"Totally different kind of scare. And you were the one sneaking up and scaring people. You're a vicious, mean Summers."

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make it up to you," he swore.

She covered his mouth with one hand. "I don't want to talk about this right now." She moved her hand to kiss him quickly, even pulling back when he drifted into something more involved than she was ready for in that moment. "Too. Many. Words."

"How silly of me," he said with a smirk before he tried again - more careful as he took his time and kissed her back into the pillows.

* * *

Kari was more and more thrilled every time she went to another art gallery, another show, or another unveiling. She had been to a few now, but every time sent tingles down her spine. She was never going to stop enjoying the fact that people actually _liked_ her art. And this one was one of her favorites - a macro that she'd done from one of Sying's space pictures.

She had seen a few of these people at previous unveilings, and she was surprised to find that she was starting to get a following. She was nervous about putting together a collection of art on the X-Men, because it might put a spotlight on her for the team and not what she was doing with her art - but since she hadn't done it yet, that meant all these people were here for _her_.

There were plenty of art aficionados - and a few pretentious types like Bradley had been - but the person who approached her over the cocktails and talking stage of the show was about her age and sort of shy-looking.

"Hi," Kari said with a warm smile, clutching on to her lemonade a bit tighter.

For a moment, the boy looked like he might say something before, instead, he simply held out a small bouquet of flowers - a gorgeous arrangement of daisies fit for an April day.

"Oh, thank you," Kari said, flushing purple as she took the flowers - but before she could say anything further, the boy simply turned tail and ran.

"Oh. Okay." Kari bit her lip as she watched him skirt away from her, but she kept the flowers close as she finished up answering questions from the art lovers who had shown up around her.

"He was cute," Kate said with a smirk over her shoulder after a secretary from a large firm left with a grin after asking about future works.

Kari blushed again. "I guess so."

"You guess so? Kari, honey, he's totally your type. Dark hair, clearly knows how to woo a lady. He's just a bit shy, that's all."

Kari ducked her head down into her flowers, but she couldn't quite get away from her mom's smirk as they headed to the car to drive home.

Kate kept looking Kari's way on the way back to the school, trying and failing to rein in her smile until they finally got back to Westchester and Kari was still clutching to the daisies.

"Let me get you some water to put those in," Kate said, scooping up the flowers to set them in a vase.

Kari couldn't stop blushing as she watched her mom, grinning as she followed her from the car to the kitchen to setting the flowers in the center of the table. She was still grinning enough that when Charlie and Gerry got back from their classes at the university, Charlie simply couldn't ignore it.

"What's going on?" she asked as she sat down next to Kari. "Did the art gallery go well?"

"No, no … that's not it," Kari said, almost frowning to herself. "I think … I don't know."

"Kari has a cute admirer," Kate sang out happily. "He brought her flowers. Isn't that nice, Charlie?"

Kari flushed a little more. "Mom, stop… stop _that_."

"Oh yeah. Definitely cute," Kate said gleefully.

"I can't get her to stop," Kari told Charlie with a miserable groan.

"Well, _was_ he cute?" Gerry couldn't help but ask with a wide grin. "Because it sounds to me like he was cute."

"Gerry, you're not helping," Kari grumbled.

"Of course he is," Kate practically crooned, dancing over to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Favorite nephew."

Kari rolled her eyes at both of them. "This is what I've been putting up with all day," she told Charlie.

"She's just excited for you," Charlie told her bracingly. "The last guy you dated turned out to be horrible, so it would be nice if you dated someone who, I don't know, is cute and got you flowers."

"And is _smitten_ ," Gerry added. "That's a requirement."

"Oh, he's so smitten he can't even _speak_ around her," Kate said, grinning even wider.

Gerry gave Kari a significant look and gestured openly. "Go get 'em. All you'll probably have to do is bat your lucious elfy eyelashes and he'll be falling at your feet."

"You are all ridiculous," Kari grumbled, putting her head on her arms crossed in front of her. "Why do I put up with you?"

"Must be smitten," Gerry said under his breath.

Kate beamed his way and ruffled his hair. "Can't choose your family, sweetheart. You're stuck with us!" she told her daughter brightly and then kissed her cheek. "Lucky you!"

Kari looked up to glare at her mother for a second before she left in a poof of pink to her studio - which, of course, had Kate cackling that much harder. "Oh man. I'm definitely going to have to get this kid's name. I can't just keep calling him 'Cute Flower Guy'."

"That's the best you can come up with? Cute flower guy?" Gerry teased.

"What more do you need in a description? He's cute, he's a guy, he brought flowers, and I know nothing else about him because he skedaddled as soon as he turned pink," Kate pointed out with an easy shrug. "Thus: Cute Flower Guy."

"Well. Good luck figuring it out," Gerry said.

Kate simply beamed at him. "It's a minor stretch of the PI muscles, my dear Watson, but I'll take it."

"Didn't you pull that a few years back? Are you sure you don't need a full reattachment of those PI muscles?"

Kate shook her head at him. "I hereby rescind my favorite nephew status," she said, playfully hitting him in the back of the head. "Nikki can have it."

"Nope, nuh-uh. It's a permanent status. No take backs," Gerry said cheerfully. "'Sides, I musta done it right if you're chickening out on leaving the title where it belongs. Afraid of being eclipsed."

"Okay, sun puns win," she laughed and kissed his cheek. "Love you too, Sunshine."

Gerry grinned back at her before he headed over to Charlie again, full of himself for the solid puns. And Charlie had to shake her head at him before she pulled him into a kiss. "You just can't resist, can you?" she teased, even though she already knew the answer.

"Bigger question is: how could you not?"

"This is a good point," she said with a pretended thoughtful look before she pulled him into a kiss. "No, I can't resist," she teased, which just had him laughing before they headed upstairs together.


	15. How To Flirt: A Guide By Elflings

It had been a year since Billy had gone to a different dimension to save Lily — so they had decided to use that date as her birthday. Which meant that somewhere in what they thought was her fourth year alive, she was going to have her very first birthday party ever, and she already knew what to expect from watching the babies.

Annie was thrilled to bake for such a big fan of her sweets, and considering all the little girl had gone through to get that far in life, she made certain to pull out all the stops in her baking and cooking endeavors. Cupcakes, the birthday cake, and even the special attention of Lily's favorite meal that Annie was prepping _early_ in the day — nothing was 'too much' from Miss Annie on such a landmark occasion. Teddy burst out laughing as he brought Lily in on his shoulders and saw the setup.

"Gee, Lil, I think someone loves you," he teased her as he let her down so she could climb up in her seat to get some chocolate chip pancakes.

"Of course. Who couldn't love this little angel?" Annie laughed.

"Just someone unloveable to begin with," K said as she and Logan joined the little party with John and Malin. "Have you figured out how much sugar one person can eat in a day's time before they die from overdose?"

"No such thing," Annie said brightly as she started serving up pancakes, making sure that Billy and Teddy both had plenty of chocolate chips — though obviously not as many as Lily.

Billy leaned over to give Lily a kiss on the cheek. "All grown up and four years old. What _are_ we going to do with you?" he teased her lightly.

She grinned up at him and shrugged both shoulders to her ears, too busy with digging into her _treasure_ to waste time with picking.

Annie smiled as she sat down beside them with her sweet tea and reached over to boop Lily on the nose. "You're getting so big. It's a good thing all of your parents are so strong."

"Even Billy?" Kate teased as she came in with Kade and Chelsea; the teenagers were still sleeping in.

"Billy cheats with magic," Kade said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone, though Chelsea went right to the birthday girl to make sure she got hugs.

"Bird-day, bird-day. Happy bird-day," Chelsea sang to her own little tune.

Lily giggled and hugged Chelsea back. "It's my first one!"

"And you get a cake," Chelsea told her.

"A big one," Kade grinned, zipping over to kiss Annie on the cheek.

Annie smirked as she served him up a short stack loaded with chocolate. "You're kissing up to me."

"Yep," Kade said, grinning as he skipped off with his pancakes.

Once the kids all had plenty of chocolate and had eaten their sweet breakfast, Annie turned to the adults in the room, smiling Logan and K's way. "So, what are you planning to spoil her with today? I know for a fact Billy and Teddy are going to sweeten her up to my satisfaction," she teased.

"Just coverin' the fact that she's gone this long without anything _proper_ ," Logan said.

"Plus, when you have four parents, you tend to get _super_ spoiled," Tyler said from the doorway with a grin.

"She needs four parents to make up for the fact she only had one worth a damn in her own reality," K said without missing a beat. "Morning, Kitten Whiskers."

"Morning, K," Tyler said with a smile at Lily and produced a wrapped box from behind his back. "Got my little sister something special."

Lily giggled as she looked toward Logan for just a moment before she tore open the box to find a few perfectly beautiful pink sundresses. "They're pretty," she told Tyler.

He grinned and ran a hand over her hair before he tossed her in the air. "Only the prettiest for my baby sister."

"Me next!" Chelsea called out — which really only kicked off the present-giving early as Lily found herself surrounded by excited people ready to totally spoil her for her first birthday.

When Lily got through her first few presents from the kids and had played with them for a while, she finally turned to Logan and K, grinning widely and almost bouncing in place — but still falling just short of openly _asking_ what they had in store for her. And both of them made a point not to rush it.

"Wanna take a little walk with us?" K asked as she handed John to Scott.

Lily looked between the two of them and nodded. Logan offered her his hand, and in short order, he and K were swinging her every few steps between them on the way out the front door. "Got any guesses?" Logan asked, but Lily shook her head, still riding high from breakfast.

When they got to the barn, Lily was wide-eyed until K gestured at the stalls. "Something is different. See if you can figure it out."

All of the stalls were open but one — and when the little blonde climbed up the bales of hay conveniently stacked next to it, she very nearly toppled off of the hay when she saw the little palomino pony in the stall that was just her size.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" Logan asked.

Lily stared at the pony with wide eyes. "Hi," she said.

"Her name is Goldilocks — unless you want to change it," K told her.

"I like it!" she said, beaming before she began to rush, then quickly checked herself, remembering what her mother had taught her about going _slow_ around the horses. She was almost holding her breath as she reached out to start petting Goldilocks' mane. "She's so pretty."

"You wanna take her for a ride?"

"Yes please!" Lily almost whispered reverently.

Logan headed for the tack room and grabbed the bridle for the pony, and between him and K, the little horse was ready to go in just a few minutes — and Lily was in the saddle with a broad grin. Logan led them out to the arena and then walked with her until she was ready to go alone - awestruck and smiling the whole way.

Billy grinned as he and Teddy came out to watch the show. "You _literally_ got her a pony," Teddy laughed. "I'm not even surprised."

"The horses were too big for her," Logan said with a shrug as he leaned against the fence in the arena while Lily rode in circles.

"I love it," Billy said, unable to stop his smile. "She's … this is the sweetest thing I've seen since our anniversary."

"Nice caveat," Teddy said, wrapping him up from behind.

"If that's the case, you two better up your game," K said as she climbed up on the fence next to Logan. "This is normal for my guy."

"Oh, we know," Teddy said with a smile.

"And we love it."

"Billy already magicked her a new ceiling that shows her the galaxies at night," Teddy said with a smirk. "Shooting stars… the whole nine."

"That explains her sudden fascination with the stars," K said.

"She asked me why my eyes looked like this, and Teddy took her stargazing," Billy said with a shrug.

"Get ready for horses, boys," K laughed.

"We'll get her a new bedspread and repaint the walls," Teddy said with a laugh.

"Means you two might wanna learn how to ride," Logan said without taking his eyes off of the little girl. "So you can trail ride with her."

"Definitely," Teddy said, grinning as he watched the little girl giggling happily.

* * *

"Hey, Sadie, can I borrow you?" Kaleb called out to Sadie, clutching a playbook in one hand.

Sadie had just come in from ballet, and she had to let out a little breath, knowing that Kaleb _never_ asked for help unless there was a good reason behind it. "Is it something I need to change for first?"

"Only if you want to," Kaleb said, holding up the book. "The play's in a few weeks, and I was wondering if you'd run lines with me?"

"Of course," she said with a smile before she set her bag down and came over with her hand out for the book. "Who am I reading?"

"Jo," he said, handing her the _Little Women_ playbook.

"Are you going to sing to me?" Sadie asked with a playful smirk.

Kaleb grinned. "Maybe if you want me to. But this is the scene after the duet? You know… the proposal and all… We're supposed to be rehearsing the end of the play when the sisters are all happy and married, and I want it to end … right. Does that make sense?"

"Alright," Sadie said. "Who's got the role normally?"

He pulled a face. "Julie," he said. "She's a great singer and a good actress, but…"

"Ah. No wonder you want someone else to run lines," she said. "Let's go find your muse, Elfling. Or … whatever it is actors need."

Kaleb chuckled before he teleported off with her to the garden. "This seems about right," he said before he pointed to the part of the play when Professor Bhaer was working up to telling Jo how he felt. "If you don't know the parts on the duet, we can skip to the dialogue."

"Whatever it is you need help with," Sadie said, nodding. "I'm not familiar with the play, so - it's for you, anyhow. You tell me."

"Okay. Well… we can speak-sing the lyrics leading up. The proposal's in the middle of the song, and he's all flustered. Not at all my usual, smooth self," Kaleb teased.

"Well, it is called acting," she said as if it was perfectly natural.

"I just wish it was you instead of Julie," Kaleb said, shaking his head. "If my father's going to have a play with a German professor falling for a writer, it should be with — well. Someone more like my parents. And Julie is decidedly _not_."

"Ask your mother; I'm not much of a writer," Sadie pointed out.

"No, but you have all the rest of it," Kaleb said. "A lot of attitude in a little package, surrounded by sisters you love, with the soul of a poet."

She shook her head with a little smile. "No sense lamenting it," she said before she shooed him on. "Let's get started and we can maybe … catch a movie if you feel like you've got it after a few tries"

Kaleb grinned at her and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "You are a lifesaver," he told her.

Of course, it only took them a few tries to get through the part that Kaleb was most concerned with, when the professor blustered his way through a "no, yes — YES!" proposal that Kaleb positively nailed. He would get more and more excited-nervous with each runthrough, until finally, he asked her to go through to the end of the scene with him, when the professor and Jo finally kissed.

She nodded at that. "I'm sure you've got it, so of _course_."

Kaleb grinned, reading through the rest of the scene with her — but when they got to the part where Jo was supposed to kiss the professor, he broke form and beat her to the punch and honestly kissed her, then grinned cheekily as his tail swayed behind him. "Oh, I think we need to run that again. I forgot my lines," he said airily.

"What lines?" Sadie said, smiling to herself with a light blush rising in her cheeks. "I'm game if you are."

"Great!" Kaleb said, though he completely disregarded the scene and simply pulled her into another kiss. "Am I getting better?" he asked when the kiss broke.

Sadie regarded him for just a moment. "Little bit. Probably need practice." She smiled crookedly, then leaned forward and gave him a much more extended kiss in return.

Kaleb couldn't stop grinning when the longer kiss broke. "What do you think - would you help me with that?" he asked, both eyebrows raised high.

"Not if you're going to rush off to use your new skills on any girl that comes along," Sadie said.

"No, no," Kaleb said, shaking his head. "I specifically asked you for a reason."

"Is the reason because you're sneaky?"

"Why, yes," Kaleb said, grinning wider. "And I really wanted to kiss you."

"So … are you asking me out? Or did you just want to kiss?"

"Can't I do both?" Kaleb asked with a growing grin.

"I'm trying to figure out what it is you want here," Sadie said.

"Well," Kaleb said slowly. "I haven't ever dated anyone seriously. And I think it would be nice to try it with someone I _like_. Someone who is beautiful and funny and _fun_. So yes, I would like to go out with you. And kiss you often." He raised her hand to his lips to prove that point, in a move he had clearly seen his dad pull a thousand times. "If that's alright."

Sadie smirked crookedly at him and nodded her head a few times before she stepped closer and pulled him into another kiss. "Okay. Hard to say no to a handsome devil."

"It's my secondary mutation," he teased before he kissed her all over again.

* * *

At the next art show, Kari almost wasn't surprised to see that cute boy again — or to see that he had brought her flowers again. But this time, when he brought the flowers over to her, she wasn't going to let him just rush off.

"Can I at least get your name?" she asked with a smile when he approached with some tulips.

The boy blinked at her for a long moment before he blushed all the way down to his toes. "Tim," he said quietly. "I'm Tim."

"I'm Kari," she said with a warm smile. "Thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful."

Tim blushed again and nodded. "I — yeah."

Kari couldn't stop smiling at him. "So, is there a story behind the name, or is 'Tim' all I'm going to get?" she asked.

"Oh." Tim nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I…" He gestured toward her painting with one hand. "I like your landscapes."

She grinned. "Thanks."

"And… and your macro work."

She couldn't help but shake her head at him, but he was so sweet and tripping over himself that she decided to cut him a break. She pulled her arm through his, which just had him blushing harder. "Do you want to get some coffee?" she asked.

"I… okay," Tim said, and Kari just smiled to herself as she led the way down the hall to the exit.

* * *

Kari was still smiling to herself when she got back from the coffee date with Tim, and it wasn't like her good mood went unnoticed, either.

"So, what's his name?" Krissy asked with a little smirk, carrying Ariel on her hip as she watched her sister smiling.

"What?"

"That's the look you usually have when you've spent some time with James," Krissy teased.

Kari blinked at her big sister for a moment and then blushed purple. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh," Krissy said, shaking her head as she sat down, and Ariel leaned way over to grab hold of Kari's shirt so she could snuggle with her aunt. "Seriously, what's his name?"

Kari blushed deeply. "Tim," she said.

"Tim," Krissy repeated, raising both eyebrows significantly as she leaned forward, which just had Kari groaning to herself.

"Krissy, don't start."

"So, when am I going to meet this _Tim_?"

"Oh, no, I just met him-"

"Come on," Krissy said pleadingly. "Is this the Cute Flower Guy Mom was talking about?"

"Please don't call him that," Kari said, dropping both of her hands into her lap.

"Oh, not to his _face_ , of course," Krissy said, grinning widely.

"Not at _all._ "

"Well, not now that we have a name to go with Mr. Tall Dark and Blushing," Krissy giggled, which got Ariel giggling too, even if she didn't know what was going on.

"We just went to get coffee so I could get to know him," Kari said.

"Coffee first … then a nice little quiet daytime date … then a double date with someone who can vet him for you … then … then the serious stuff starts."

Kari shook her head at her big sister and then looked down at Ariel. "Your mom is the worst. Remember that," she told the little girl, who giggled up at her and grabbed her face to pull on her cheek and nose.

"Still gonna need to meet him!" Krissy sang out, which had Ariel giggling and babbling along, trying to sing with her mom. "See? Ariel agrees, don't you, baby?"

Kari shook her head when Ariel just started laughing. "Using your own daughter. You should be ashamed."

"She was stating her opinion," Krissy said. "Don't be sore just because she agreed with me. Because I am _right_. And we _neeed_ to meet him." She looked down at Ariel. "What kind of flowers do you think he'll bring my widdle baby sister? _Deep red roses_?"

"Kris-sy," Kari groaned, dropping her head backwards as she let out a dramatic sigh. "Why are you _like_ this."

"Something that professes his _undying lo-o-ove._ " Ariel was belly laughing at her mother's antics as Krissy continued to suggest more and more serious scenarios.

"That's it; I'm never telling you anything about boys ever again," Kari threatened, half serious.

"Oh! She's going to run away with him and we'll hear about it on CNN."

"Krissy… stop. Why… just… no."

"Ooh, can Sying and I be your double?" She grinned at her wickedly. "You know. To make sure he's _safe_ for you to be around."

"Okay, I'm not actually opposed to a double date, but not right _now_. Not when you're being…" Kari gestured to her big sister. "Like... this."

Krissy waved one hand her way. "That's fine; we're going out with Elin and Chance anyhow."

Kari grinned at that. "Good. You guys always have fun together. And Chance totally spoils Ariel, huh, sweetie?" she asked, tickling Ariel's tummy.

"He _is_ a Summers," Krissy giggled before she leaned over to kiss her sister and Ariel on the cheeks. "Seriously, Kari, I'm glad you've got someone who makes you make that face. You should totally date him."

"I already went out to coffee with him," Kari pointed out.

"So … go out to dinner with him too," Krissy said. "You'll enjoy it."

"I… I already have his phone number," Kari said, biting her lip.

Krissy grinned wider and shooed her with both hands. "Go. You need some good kisses."

Kari just shook her head at her sister as she handed her Ariel. "You're ridiculous," she said, then disappeared in a poof of pink before her sister could get even _more_ ridiculous - if that was possible.


	16. Live Bait

It had taken a little time, but the team finally had a scenario in which James working as bait would work in their favor: they actually needed to get bugs on these guys for all the mayhem they were causing. Even if Scott still looked like he didn't like the idea of it. One thing that Tony had added to the mix once he heard the gist of what they were planning was to outfit James with multiple cameras hidden in his uniform so that Scott could keep track of all of the awful things that were bound to be said that James wouldn't relay.

Which meant that the junior team was ready to go the next time they got wind of a Superior Rising rally.

"Kinda weird going in and not being the expected bait," Chance had to tease James in the jet on the way over.

"Did you want to play bait today?" James asked. "I'm pretty sure that'd change the dynamic of this … but it'd work too."

"No, no, I'm good _not_ being bait for once," Chance chuckled.

"Just sayin', you were _just_ complaining."

"No, no, I was teasing. There's a difference."

"Sounded like bitching to me," James deadpanned. "Elin?"

"He's totally jealous of you," she agreed without missing a beat.

"You're the one who wanted them both on the team," Gerry said with a grin Chance's way. "You did this to yourself."

"I make one snarky comment and now I'm suddenly whiny," Chance said, shaking his head. "This is my life."

"That's not a good retort if you're not bitching, sweetheart. And you _are_ the one that wanted in the family," Elin said. "Remember? You knew this before you married me."

"I did," Chance had to agree before he leaned over to kiss her.

"So _maybe_ you can stop with the buyer's remorse then," she decided with a nod.

"Like I'd ever regret marrying you."

"Oh my God, Superior Rising take me now," James said under his breath.

"Speaking of buyer's remorse," Gerry chuckled.

"It's not too late for me to go be an Avenger," James said to Gerry.

"Zoe would love that. She's been driving Uncle Steve nuts since she joined the team. He says it's like having my dad back on the team," Gerry said with a smirk. "She'd love to have someone to double team him."

"Not helping, Ger," Chance said dryly.

"Honestly, it'd be worse for Steve if I did go," James said. "Tony and I would revive the prank war or just … team up and start picking targets again."

"Oh look, we're here," Chloe said dryly, pointing to where the Superior Rising group was already starting to gather.

"Great," James said, getting to his feet. "I'll see you on the other side once the party gets rolling." As soon as he was able, James left the jet to scout ahead and to see how big this group actually was. To start with, he was slowly walking along the outer fringes, getting a quick head count and taking his time so that the cameras could pick up as many people on facial recognition as he could while the team staged. But as soon as he had a solid handle on how the rally was shaping up and how many more they expected, he hit his comm. "I'm gonna find a spot to hang back."

"We'll just keep being awesome in the meantime," Kaleb assured him, and James could hear the grin in his tone.

"Right, well, while you're being awesome, I'm getting coffee. I have a potential spot to slip in, but it'll take about fifteen minutes to clear."

"Take your time," Chloe said. "I'm keeping an eye on my brother."

"Someone needs to," Elin said evenly.

"Love you both too," Chance called back over the comms.

Sying and Gerry were doing a great team up again, this time with Gerry blinding the creeps in darkness and Sying immediately following that up with loud plasmoids, effectively disorienting several of the group members. And with Chloe and Chance doing an excellent team up, Elin was more interested in making sure that none of the creeps tried to pull anything against the team as a whole.

As it turned out, James' timing couldn't have been better. He'd just gotten his latte and stepped toward the entry to see how things were shaping up when his window looked like it was opening. "I'm turning the one-way on so you can hear what's up," James said as he made his way over to hop the fence into the thick of things in the park, for the first time counting on his reputation to clear the way for him.

He took his time walking toward the entrance to the gathering — where to his surprise, they were still taking admission for those coming in and checking to make sure that no humans got through their shoddy security. Of course, he was on the far side from where the others were, so their pandemonium hadn't quite made its way over to where the more 'official' members of the purple-covered hate group were gathering.

But when someone recognized James, the crowd nearest him instantly shifted. He was glad to have the coffee, just as something to focus on so that he could feel like he was keeping it somewhat casual. And as he'd seen before, he had to carefully keep himself in check from tearing into these guys as they got friendly. He didn't answer any questions. He was super careful not to nod his head at all in case it was recorded and edited later. And when one of them would put a hand on his shoulder, he simply stopped and turned to look at it for a moment until the person touching him _stopped._

James was getting deeply into the worst of them and carefully dropping bugs on those that were clearly part of their organized section until he allowed them to gently direct him toward where this branch's leader was preparing to go out and rile up the mob.

He wasn't sure how much closer Scott was going to let him get, seeing as he knew that Scott was watching from the mansion on the cameras, and he was waiting to hear him in his ear telling him to back off. It was just a matter of time. But when the creeps kept coming and trying to engage James in something … _anything_... he finally licked his lips and spoke low into the mic at his collar. "Can I start hitting people yet? Be advised — almost all of them at the stage are armed."

"Wait until they say something incriminating — _the ones running the show_. Not just the crowd."

"That's what I figured you'd say," James said, then tried to relax a bit with a few deep breaths and a roll of his shoulders.

"Hey, this was your idea. Can't back out until you get the intel you wanted. If it's too much, that's one thing, but this is probably a one-shot deal," Logan said through the comm where he and Scott were listening in.

James sighed heavily, but didn't reply, knowing that he was right.

The guy running the show seemed incredibly pleased to see James and invited him up to the stage with a grin. "Won't you join us?"

James shook his head lightly at the invitation. "Just here to listen for now."

The guy nodded and seemed to smile even wider. "I'm sure you'll join us once you hear what we have to say," he said. "With Death at our head, it won't take long before we rid the world of the human infestation." He said that last part loud enough to get the crowd worked up, with chants surrounding James that seemed to embolden the rest of the group.

James finished off his coffee and used the motion to cover his words to Scott. "I know. Wait. But I'm gonna crush his larynx."

"Just _wait_ ," Scott said in a tired tone.

"Said I would," James muttered.

He watched with a deepening frown as the crowd just got more and more worked up, until the guy running the show held up both hands to signal that he was speaking again. "We are the future," he shouted. "We will inherit this world — so why wait? These humans have had their time in the sun, and now, it's our turn. Let _them_ go the way of the cavemen and dinosaurs — extinct!"

When the crowd roared their approval and stepped forward, inevitably, one of them bumped into James, and he responded by slowly turning to stare the guy down with a growl — effectively getting him a small bubble of room that no one was willing to step into.

But the guy on stage didn't seem to notice that the guest of honor was less than thrilled with the state of things. He kept right on talking, getting more excited as he continued, describing how mutantkind would rise up and force humanity to endure the same things it had done to mutants. By the time the crowd was in a full-on mob, the guy was gesturing for James to come up. "We'll bring death to the humans — and Death himself!"

"Try not to kill him, James," Scott said in James' ear.

"Oh, he'll be able to stand trial," James promised as the crowd roared around him. "You want me to follow through and go up by that idiot?"

"Up to you. If you think you can do it and not kill him…"

James didn't answer him, though, mostly because he was trying to compose himself to _not_ murder this guy, but also because he was pretty sure he had a solid shot to publicly decry what this idiot was saying. Microphone right there … should be easy. The crowd seemed to be waiting to react, and the moment James took a step forward, it began to get downright _loud._

The guy running things looked like Christmas had come early as James climbed up the steps. "We can finish what you started," he said with a hungry, wicked gleam in his eyes. "Not one human will be left standing."

James still didn't say a word, but his glare couldn't have been much deeper, and to anyone casually observing, they saw almost the same depth to his glare that he had when he _was_ Death. That same concentrated look of loathing was coming through crystal clear.

The guy put his hand on James' shoulder, and James shrugged it off before he could even begin to think it was alright. His hands were balled up at his sides, and he was doing his level best to keep his claws to himself, though he did take a moment to slowly turn and get the entire crowd on camera while they whipped themselves into a frenzy — to be looked through later, of course.

"Do you have anything to add, or should we just let our actions speak for us?" the guy asked, once again, resting his hand on James' back as if they were close friends.

At that, James actually smiled an instant before he laid into him with one solid, hard hit right to his throat, though he caught a hold of the guy's shirt before he could hit the ground. "Trying to silence or kill those that disagree with you isn't going to help how mutants are treated. And it sure as hell isn't going to get my backing," James told him before he was sure to snag the microphone from him.

"I stand with the X-Men and all they represent. Not this disgusting excuse for mutant rights. Destroying someone else's life doesn't gain you anything," James said to the crowd at large. He looked at the guy he'd hit, who was so clearly still gasping for air. "This is _not_ how equality happens. This is _not_ what I believe, and if I have to silence hatemongers one at a time," he let his voice drop to a growl, "I'll do it."

The crowd was stunned, murmurs rippling through them. No one wanted to take James on themselves, not really, but they also clearly didn't agree with him, by the looks of their faces. Finally, though, someone in the back shouted out "traitor!" and the rest of the group took up the cry, the mob mentality returning in full force with numbers on their side.

James took a step back from the microphone, somehow looking more disgusted with the crowd than before. "Kaleb, come get this idiot to the cops," James said into his collar. "I'm good here."

There was a little chuckle on the other end of the comms before Kaleb appeared in a poof of blue and crouched down beside the leader of the mob. "Quite the show," he teased, then teleported away with the guy before James could say anything about it.

The crowd was losing a lot of its steam with the main instigator gone and with the fact that they were clearly surrounded by X-Men — especially since Kaleb had been careful to not fully appear so it wasn't obvious if it was him or his father. And with the threat of arrest _and_ the X-Men hanging over them, a few of them were starting to disperse, though the more ardent supporters just seemed to get angrier.

James turned to leave the stage and of course found his path blocked. "Outta my way before I go through you," James growled out.

"You're a traitor to mutantkind," said one of the braver Superior Rising creeps.

"Whoever told you it was an us versus them situation _lied_ ," James said. "Crack open a copy of Xavier's works and read the damn thing."

"You're just a tool of the X-Men," another one shouted.

"No, I _am_ an X-Man," James countered. " _You_ are a tool."

That seemed to be enough to set them off, and the bravest among them rushed forward to try and take James down, though of course, he'd pretty much been waiting for them to make a mistake like that.

He kept his claws in like he'd promised and started laying into guys with everything he had — and the sounds of breaking bones was clear enough to hear through his comms. He was perfectly content to work his way out of the crowd like that, though he didn't get too far into the thick of it before there was a sharp whining sound and a red blast knocked several of the Superior Rising group back as Chloe caught up to James with a smile.

"Stop messing around. The police are here in riot gear to break it up, and you got the head creep. Time to go."

"Why you wanna be a killjoy, Chloe?" James asked. "It's just getting good."

"I'm just like that, I guess," she said primly before she blasted back several more creeps with a look.

James gave her a crooked smirk for that before he turned into his collar again. "You did get it all, right?"

"Yes, I did," Scott said. "And I appreciate you not killing anyone."

"The bar is so low," he said before he switched off of the setting he had and offered Chloe his arm. "Shall we?"

Chloe smirked his way as he took his arm. "I know what you're doing, and I approve wholeheartedly."

"I am … hitting idiots and escorting the pretty Summers off the grounds," he said, haltingly.

"Exactly," she agreed, grinning even wider at him, especially when not only Chance gave her a look but Kaleb too.

"Oh, are we escorting from battlefields now?" Kaleb said, teleporting over to the two of them.

"Only when it's entirely uncivilized," James said. "We have to show them what mutant freedom fighters are supposed to look like. More dignified."

"Plus, we look fabulous," Chloe agreed with her nose in the air.

Kaleb couldn't help but grin at that. "That you do."

"You can escort her back," James said with a wicked smirk when he saw a troublesome knot ahead. "I'll catch up."

"Oh, if I must," Kaleb teased, mostly directing it Chloe's way just to get her to roll her eyes at him.

"No, no, I like this one," she said with her hand still on James' arm. "Besides, aren't you kissing his sister? _Often_?"

James turned his way. "Or … maybe I should escort _you._ "

Kaleb let out a little noise a second before he disappeared, and Chloe busted up laughing. "That was amazing, and we should do it every day," she declared.

"I doubt it'd work every day, but I did just have a crowd turned upside down. I think it was that," James decided.

Chloe just laughed at that as they headed back to the jet. "Okay, so every mission. Fair?"

"Every mission I break up a riot," James said.

"You drive a hard bargain," she teased, then let go of his arm so he could tear through the knot of troublemakers on their way out.

As soon as they were on the jet, though, James had the laptop out and was running half a dozen facial recognition programs to ID as many of the crowd as possible, completely abandoning Chloe's teasing in favor of tracking a few people down.

"That was impressive," Sying said as he sat down next to James.

"What are you talking about?" James asked.

"I've never seen someone so determined to die, and you let him live," Sying said.

"Cameras," James said. "Scott bent over backwards to make sure the world knew we weren't what Apocalypse made us into. Killing that idiot on camera would have screwed all four of us and made him out to be a liar."

"I appreciate that," Sying said. "Especially because I've got a little fluffball to come home to. I'm _this_ close to getting a 'dada'. I can feel it."

James looked up at him with a little smirk. "You know I wouldn't do anything to screw you guys up, right?"

"Why do you think we made you godfather? It's a position of trust, in case you didn't realize," Sying pointed out.

"I know," James said. "I just … had to say it. Even for as much as I wanted to split that idiot top to bottom …"

"You and me both," Sying said. "I'm just lucky I have super speed, because the few 'oh it's War!' moments I got were just…" He glared a bit and looked down at the sparks on his fingertips. "You're better at this than I am."

"I'm used to it," James said quietly. "Happens to me all the time." He tipped his head for a moment and turned to look at Sying. "I used it, actually. Did Kari tell you about that?"

"I got the highly entertained secondhand account from Krissy, yeah," Sying said with a smirk, glad for the excuse to change the conversational topic. Like James, he still wasn't entirely over his time as a Horseman, and he could sometimes still feel the deep, black anger that had fueled him when he was War when someone would call him by his Horsemen name and he was curious on how James was handling it so well.

"I guess that's gonna be my subtle 'your date's an idiot' cue," James said before he turned back to the computer.

"You checked out this Tim guy yet?" Sying asked. "Krissy's excited about him."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's one of those things that the girls coordinate over."

"Then I'm sure you'll meet him soon," Sying said. "This is Cute Flower Guy."

"Oh," James said with a growing smile. "Cute Flower Guy is _Tim._ "

"You're very welcome," Sying said, grinning as he leaned back in his own seat and propped his feet up.

"Think she'll get irked if I call him Timothy?"

"Depends on how interested she is," Sying pointed out. "Krissy is in love with the idea, but if I know my sister-in-law, she's not _there_ yet."

"I'm not going to screw with anything," James said, shaking his head. "Unless he's an ass. Then I'll screw with him."

"Well, so far, it's just been him buying her flowers and her trying to get more than two sentences out of him, so… probably safe," Sying said easily.

James let out a breath at that. "Good. She deserves a nice guy."

"Yeah, I tend to think so too," Sying agreed, giving James a significant look.

James wasn't paying strict attention to Sying's looks though. His program was starting to turn up results, and he was pleased with himself as the percentages of positive matches kept rising. "And here, we see how fun tiny tech can be," James said.

"I'll leave you two alone then, shall I?" Sying teased, gesturing between James and the laptop.

"Hey Sy? Would it make you feel better if we started calling you 'Peace' or 'Dirty Hippie'?" James asked with a false expression of concern. "Chloe will braid flowers into your hair on the way to missions and douse you with patchouli."

"I absolutely will," Chloe said with a smirk, though she was leaning over James' other side looking through the matches. "Oooh, hey, he was at that last rally where they tried to throw rocks at my brother."

"I'll get cameras in everyone's suits," James decided.

"Not a bad idea," she said with a growing grin. "But not mics — no one needs to hear Kaleb flirting with every pretty girl he meets."

"No, I think we need that, too. To show Sadie how bad her taste really is," James said.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with being charming," Kaleb defended across the jet. "And Sadie flirts with other boys. But we only _kiss_ each other."

"Really?" James said, looking up at him over the top of his laptop. "Has she been flirting with other boys since TinyStark left?"

"Well, not so much, but that's why I wanted to date her. She needed to have fun," Kaleb defended.

"Because she wasn't with TinyStark," James said, letting out a little growl. "Sounds opportunistic."

Kaleb held up both hands. "Come on. You know me; you've grown up with me. Do you think I would _ever_ be untrue to a girl I was dating? Really? Kidding aside."

"I hope not," James said, though he didn't drop his gaze from Kaleb.

Kaleb put a hand over his heart. "I would never break her heart. I promise."

"Good. Just keep in mind if you did, I'd have to break your tail. _Off_."

Kaleb turned a paler shade of blue as his tail unconsciously curled closer to his body. "Right."

Gerry smirked and shook his head. "That was your mistake, Kaleb. Saying you'd ever even _look_ at other girls when he just went and threatened an entire mob. He's all riled. Bad move."

"Yes, I see that," Kaleb said with a weak smile.

"Life lessons, man," Gerry said, still grinning.

" _Hey_. No one died," James said. "Yet."

"Yes, _technically_ ," Gerry said. "That guy's going to need medical intervention, though."

James sat back and met Gerry's gaze. "Yep. And he won't likely be able to talk again, but the bar was set low. 'Don't kill him, James'," he said in a nearly spot-on imitation of Scott. "Don't stab him. That's all I had for parameters."

Gerry made a circle in the air with his finger as a halo of light appeared over James' head. "We're so proud."

"There were no stipulations on sending him to immediate medical intervention," James said. "Plenty of people live through a crushed larynx."

Gerry smirked, and the halo tilted. "Uh huh."

"If it was his neck, the crunch would have been bigger, and he wouldn't have been reaching for his throat," James pointed out. "I know the difference. I've read anatomy books too."

"Whatever, James," Gerry said, waving his hand, though he kept the crooked halo up as he leaned back. "Just go back to your computer thingy and letting the pretty Summers drool over the matches."

"I'm gonna tell Charlie you said I was the pretty one," Chloe said without looking his way.

Gerry grinned at her crookedly. "She's a Drew now, kiddo. Get used to it."

"Hey," Elin said, whipping a water bottle at Gerry's head. "That doesn't erase who she is, pal."

"Aww, are you jealous I didn't put you in the pretty Summers running?" Gerry teased.

"No, because I am a _Howlett_ first," she pointed out.

Gerry laughed. "Hey, Chloe's the pretty Summers, you're _Elin_ , and Lottie is prettier than all of you. That's just how the world works."

"Whatever. The way you describe it, I could be a doorstop," Elin said. "Which explains so much."

Chance leaned back from piloting to catch her gaze. " _I_ think you're the prettiest Summers," he told her, the smirk stretching into a crooked grin.

"You have head trauma," she said, shaking her head lightly. "And you just wanna get into my pants."

"And?"

"So you'd obviously say anything," she replied before she kissed the end of his nose.

"Still think you've got 'em all beat, _Mrs. Summers_ ," he insisted, grinning even wider.

"And you are just … asking for private time, Mr. Summers."

"If I keep going, will I get more?" he teased. "Because I could go on…"

"Probably," she said with a shrug. "But maybe try to hold off until after the debrief? I'm kind of anxious to see how much of what my sweet little brother said actually makes it to the news."

"Oh, if I have to," Chance said with a smirk.

But by the time they got back, the news had already started to hit, and any damage control that they might have wanted to start up would have been too little, too late. But once they heard what they were saying … and the fact that even Jameson wasn't tearing into them outright …

"Would you look at that," Gerry said with a smile. "They're on our side. And your beautiful speech made it in full, James. So motivational."

"Then I'm only marginally glad I didn't swear," James said, arms crossed as he watched the broadcast.

Chloe shook her head at that and tugged on his arm. "Come on. Let's go show my dad the matches we've made," she urged him.

"He's probably waiting for us anyhow," James agreed before he tucked the laptop under his arm and headed off with Chloe.


	17. Flower Girl

The X-Men were busy for a while after James' computers did their work tracking down the leaders of the Superior Rising group using the pictures he'd collected from his body cameras. They weren't really able to catch a break until nearly the end of May when Leslie Ann and David were _finally_ getting married.

The garden was exactly as beautiful and festive as anyone could expect from a nature witch, with all of Leslie Ann's favorite flowers and leafy plants lining the paths. The orchids in particular were gorgeous in the green arch that she'd enticed into growing _just so_ , and she had white miniature roses lining her dress and entwined into her hair.

But for as gorgeous as the greenery was, the best part of the simple outdoor ceremony was the fact that she'd not only asked her sister's kids to be a part of it, but she and David wanted Lily to join Mary Beth's little girl in flower girl duties. Especially since Lily had been so determined that they should just hurry up and get married once they'd announced their engagement.

As David had pointed out, "It's a nature witch's wedding. Filled with flowers. With a flower girl. Named for a flower."

Kurt officiated the wedding, of course, and Anton walked Leslie Ann down the aisle, sure to fix David with his best glare. But once the rings and 'I do's' were exchanged, David and Leslie Ann quickly changed into clothes more suitable for a summer dance party. After all, it was tradition at this point: everyone had to come together to dance at the weddings.

When they did come back out to join their family and friends, Leslie Ann was in a sundress that was much easier to move in, though still decorated with roses. She and David had a very quiet first dance before Anton stole her away for a father-daughter dance — and Rachel insisted that she wanted to dance with David.

As Anton spun out on the dance floor with Leslie Ann, he was sure to press a kiss to her forehead. "I'm proud of you, baby girl."

"I thought you said all daughters should be candy stripers and stay twelve years old forever," she teased.

"Yes, but since that's not our reality…" He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm still so proud of you. Of the woman you've become." He didn't say anything more, but Leslie Ann knew what he was holding back. He knew he was beyond relieved to see her happy after how deeply depressed she had been after Apocalypse. She had gone from the broken woman who could barely stand to be touched to a blushing bride. Yes, she still had moments of despair, moments of near-insanity when she remembered what it had been like to have all those people's last moments rush in… But David was there now, and she was on much more solid ground.

She buried her face in his chest and lost herself in the hug; neither of them were dancing anymore, either. "Thanks, Daddy. Love you too."

By the time their dance ended, both of them were fairly emotional, so it was a relief when Noh called out for the rest of the group to join in the dancing — so that the focus was off of them as Leslie Ann went to find David and sit down with him for a bit so she could regain her composure. She never could handle her dad crying.

But for the rest of the group, that meant it was time to have a little fun, and Kaleb was quick to teleport over to Sadie and hold out his hand to her with a bow. "May I have this dance?"

"I suppose," Sadie replied, popping up on her toes as he pulled her out of her seat and into his arms.

He grinned at her as he led her out to the dance floor. "Your little sister almost stole the show," he teased. "Clearly, it's genetic."

"What do you mean 'almost'?" Sadie asked.

"Well, it's hard to beat a bride on her wedding day," Kaleb said with a smirk. "Be fair."

She leaned forward to steal a kiss. "Be honest."

"Alright," he said before he kissed her right back. "Honestly… there's no one else I would rather be dancing with right now. I'm very lucky."

"So am I, charmer," she told him, smiling still.

"Also something I get honestly," he said, pulling her into a dip with a smile that came with a raised eyebrow look and a tail that was giving away how entertained he was as it swayed behind him.

As Kaleb and Sadie twirled their way around the dance floor, they passed James and Alyssa just before Kaleb teleported them both to the other side of the dance floor with a small 'eep' that had Alyssa giggling.

"Scaredy Elf," James muttered under his breath.

"You must be doing your job right," Alyssa laughed.

"I am," James agreed, nodding to himself for a job well done before he gave her a little smile. Being around everyone like this in a crowd was still tough on James and Alyssa could see it in the way he kept _watching_ everyone around him. As if he was looking for someone in particular, but Alyssa didn't know _who_ he might be trying to avoid - and James wasn't about to tip her off if she hadn't deduced it on her own. "Kaleb is one of the flirtiest kids here — second only to Sadie."

"Oh, that's dangerous," she said with a smile despite her best attempt to look serious.

He shook his head at her and stole a kiss, trying to both distract himself and focus on his date. "It really is."

"So, you're third-flirtiest, right?" she had to tease him.

"Not even close," he had to laugh.

"Must just be me," Alyssa said with a little grin before she pulled him out into the center of the dance floor.

"I didn't know you liked to dance," James said. "Or I'd have taken care of that sooner."

Alyssa couldn't help but grin wider. "Well, I'm not very good, but I like it. Nice excuse to get wrapped up in my sweetheart's arms."

"That's all that matters," he told her as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. "It's almost a requirement to know how to dance, according to my parents, anyhow."

"I can see that," Alyssa laughed, gesturing with one hand to the couples around them. Krissy and Sying in particular were close by and doing a gorgeous waltz — while Ariel was with her grandfather at the DJ station giggling madly whenever Noh tried to change the song. Chance was occupied with a group of tiny ones while Elin more or less supervised, but Logan and K looked as if they were slowly working their way toward dancing if the way they were curled around each other at the outskirts of the crowd was any indicator.

James followed her gaze and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "My folks won't step out until people start to clear out and make a little room," James told her. "They're pretty terrible about each other, and they like to put Fred and Ginger to shame. Just a warning."

"I think it's sweet," Alyssa said. "If you're going to be married that long, you _should_ be in love still."

"Well, if that's the measure, nothing's wrong there," he said with a little chuckle.

"I think it's a theme," Alyssa said, pointing to where Kate and Kurt were wrapped up in a spinning kiss farther out from them.

"That's Dad's best friend. So. It's probably just the way they are. Like minds and all that."

"Makes sense," she said with a nod before she bit her lip and then got on her toes to kiss him quickly. "Probably just part of being around them."

"Probably," he agreed, though he returned the kiss to make it last a bit longer. "Don't need to be shy."

The two of them were doing an impressive impression of the older X-Men dancing for a while longer before Sying made his way over with a smile. "Do you mind if I borrow you, Alyssa?" he asked politely. "I'm not even going to lie — this is a 'what are your intentions with my uncle' dance."

James snorted out a laugh. "Oh, that's rich."

"Hey, someone's gotta do it," Sying defended.

Alyssa couldn't help laughing too. "Hey, I took you to meet my family," she pointed out as she let Sying lead her by the arm, with James shaking his head at the whole thing.

James had just decided on a quiet spot to sit down and reorganize his thoughts when someone reached out to touch his arm. He turned and froze when he saw Amadi beside him with a small smile. "You don't mind taking me for a dance, do you?" she asked.

"Are you sure you've got the right guy?" James asked, and it was suddenly very clear _who_ he'd been trying to avoid.

"Positive," Amadi said, offering her hand to him to stand up. "I think we're overdue for it, don't you?"

He didn't know what to say to that, and instead, he just nodded his head and let her direct the way it was going to go.

She led him gracefully out toward the side of the dance floor, so that they weren't in the middle of a whole lot of people, before she simply let him lead through the waltz. "We never really got the chance to talk after all that ugliness," she told him with a smile. "You were avoiding me even when we were with Apocalypse, so I thought a dance would be best."

"'I'm sorry' doesn't even begin to cover what I need to say to you," James told her softly, looking entirely guilty.

Amadi shook her head lightly and then stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "It's alright, James," she said. "I'm not mad at you."

" _I_ am," he told her, though he didn't argue with her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, still wearing a warm smile. "I'm thinking about coming back to Westchester in the fall, actually. I still think you all could use a weather witch on the team," Amadi said with a small smile. "Remy's been great, and Dad helped me see my way through everything that happened." She tipped her head to the side. "But I wanted to ask _you_ the same question. Are you okay?"

He shrugged and gave her a small smile. "I'm working on it. But I'm trying to get better."

"That's all anyone can do — get better," Amadi agreed. She gave him a smile that had a twinkle of trouble in it. "I like the girl you brought with you. She's very pretty."

"She's very nice, too," James said.

"She'd better be," Amadi said, smiling up at him.

"I don't get many people giving me trouble, honestly," James said dryly. "If I didn't know better, I'd think they didn't want to tick me off."

Amadi couldn't help but chuckle at him. "You know, that is one advantage to all of the aftermath. I don't think I've had any problems like that either."

"Well," James said, tipping his head her way, "you _are_ a little Goddess. They'd be stupid to bother you."

"Of course I am," Amadi said. The song was starting to come to a close, and she gave his arm a little squeeze. "I really am glad to see you doing so well. I talk with Leslie Ann often, and Sying has his little girl, but… I was worried about you."

James frowned slightly at that. "Why?"

Amadi raised an eyebrow. "There's one advantage of being quiet, James. I hear things."

"What … _things_ are you talking about?" James asked carefully.

She simply raised the other eyebrow so that they were both high on her head. "They were honestly considering sending Remy to _make_ you snap out of it if it kept going on any longer than it had."

He blinked a couple of times and dropped her gaze at that. "That would have been bad. And probably gone the other way once I realized what they were doing."

"I'm sure," she said. She squeezed his arm again. "But I'm glad you're better. Really."

"I'm _not_ better yet," James told her quietly, "but I'm working on it." He waited just a moment before he looked her in the eyes again. "If I hug you, am I going to screw you up?"

Amadi grinned at that and answered him by beating him to the punch and hugging him first. "Not at all. I've missed your hugs."

"All things considered, I had to ask," James told her as he squeezed her as tightly as he was willing to do. "I am so sorry, Amadi. I never wanted to hurt you or scare you, and I know I did both."

Amadi smiled up at him. "I'm sorry too," she said. "But I won't let this destroy our friendship."

"I'll see you when you come back, then," James said.

"Oh, you can count on it," she said. "I'll be coming up a little early to try out for the team, so make sure to be there to celebrate."

"I'll keep the day clear."

Amadi grinned at him before she took his arm again and walked with him over to where Alyssa and Sying were, making it a point to inform Sying that she wanted to dance with him so that Alyssa could dance with James some more. Before the handoff was complete, James was sure to kiss Amadi's cheek before they parted ways.

The group of assembled X-Men, family, and friends continued on through the rest of the night dancing, until, after the bouquet and garter toss (which left Kade making faces at Magda and insisting that she was _waaaaaaay_ too old for him), Leslie Ann and David headed off in an exit populated by an explosion of flower petals that the bamfs threw over their heads.

Which, as David pointed out when he kissed Leslie Ann when they got to the getaway car, was pretty much exactly the kind of sendoff an Amazon deserved.

* * *

_**And thus ends "Stupidity Rising", aka Volume 43. If you're still reading (please review. As much as you may be entertained and drained still from daily drama, we're tapped out on reserves as well.) you can find Volume 44 "Eternal Summers" coming SOON.** _


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